Release Notes: BitShares Core 3.3.0

[MichelSantos]

Release Notes

The BitShares Core software has been updated to the 3.3.0 Feature Release. The Core software is used to build the validation nodes that perform consensus of all transactions on the BitShares blockchain. This release includes additions and improvements but does not include any changes to the consensus protocol.

Documentation for users may be be found at How BitShares Works.

Documentation for BitShares developers may be now be found at the new BitShares Developer Portal.

Who Should Upgrade?

No upgrade is required by any operator of a validation node. Yet many operators will benefit by upgrading.

Operators of API nodes should upgrade to support client software that attempt to

• track the total amount in collateral,
• query for active HTLC objects, and
• optionally subscribe to database objects.

Instructions for configuring a node to track the total amount in collateral can be found in the API section.

Operators of ElasticSearch nodes should upgrade to support Get operation by ID and serving get_account_history API.

Block producing nodes will benefit due to enable to load block signing keys from files.

All node operators will benefit from

• performance improvements (1875) and
• improved behavior when restarting a node (1832).

Users of the command line interface wallet (CLI) will benefit from the ability to sign messages on behalf of their account (1878).

Upgrade Process

Precautions

Operators of public API nodes should add an entry into their configuration file per the instructions in the API section.

Please check the 3.2.0 Release Notes for more information if you are upgrading from a version prior to 3.2.0.

How to Upgrade from Source Code

Note: the minimum build requirements have changed starting from this 3.3.0 Feature Release:

• The code base requires a compiler that supports the C++ 14 standard (previously C++ 11).
• The minimum supported boost version is 1.58 (previously 1.57).
• The minimum supported CMake version is 3.2 (previously 3.1).

Obtain the Source Code

The source code may be obtained by checking out the 3.3.0 tag. Download the source at:

• 3.3.0.zip
• 3.3.0.tar.gz

Build the Binaries

The binaries may be built by using your pre-existing process, or by following the standard instructions that can be found in the wiki:

• Ubuntu
• macOS
• Windows

Deploy the Binaries

Your standard process for deploying the node software may be used. No additional requirements or precautions will be required to deploy the new release.

How to Upgrade with Docker

The latest Docker image may be found at BitShares Core Docker page and updated with

docker pull bitshares/bitshares-core

Binaries

Binaries of the command line interface (CLI) wallet, node software, and delayed node are pre-built and available for download.

Note: starting with core release 3.3.0, binary builds are reproducible and were signed using gitian. Please check the README if you want to verify and/or contribute.

Platform	SHA256 Checksum
Microsoft Windows	TBD
Mac	TBD
Linux	TBD

Changes

The changes for 3.3.0 Feature Release are summarized below.

API

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Track total amount in collateral	1089, 1781, 1893	1836, 1889, 1894
Added get_htlcs API	1713	1849
Add optional auto-subscription parameters to APIs: get_objects, get_accounts, get_full_accounts, lookup_accounts, get_assets and get_htlc	1819	1868
ES Plugin: Get operation by ID; support get_account_history API	1682	1725

Public API Node operators should enable the new api_helper_indexes plugin to track collateral by adding the entry api_helper_indexes to the plugins entry of the node's configuration file (config.ini), typically, if the line looks like this:

# Space-separated list of plugins to activate
plugins = witness account_history market_history grouped_orders

should change it to:

# Space-separated list of plugins to activate
plugins = witness account_history market_history grouped_orders api_helper_indexes

Node Functionality

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Suppress p2p logs	978	1875
Witness node switch to correct fork on restart if was shut down on another long fork	1703	1832
Remove seed node with missing DNS record	-	1879

Node Plug-ins

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Fix market ticker volume underflow issue	1883	1885, 1933
Witness node accepts block signing keys from file	-	1812

Command Line Interface Wallet (CLI)

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Add sign_message command to cli_wallet	-	1878

Software Design

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Put seed nodes into separate file	-	1809
Add htlc parameters to developer genesis	-	1833
Refactor CLI register_account and create_account_with_private_key commands, remove duplicate code	-	1811
Database_api code refactory	-	1891, 1920
Clean up FC, support native 128-bit integers	998, 1584, 1660,1816	FC-137, FC-140, 1789, 1917, 1927, 1941
Fix optional API argument bug	1898	FC-145, FC-146, 1912

Build Process

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Modified CMakeLists.txt for static linking of libcurl	-	1872
Harden binaries through defensive compilation and linking	-	1810
Make Travis use multi-stage build	-	1890
CMake cleanup & MinGW support	1948	FC-121, FC-151, 1949
Upgrade to newer versions of MSVC compiler	1646	1840
Support building with Windows 10 / VS 2019 / Boost 1.70	1735	Websocketpp-3, FC-144, FC-147, 1912
Support Apple Xcode 10.1 / clang 4.0.1	1952	FC-152
Fix build with different genesis file	1965	1966
Create reproducible binary downloads with gitian	897	bitshares-gitian

Documentation

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Add protocol to libraries doc	1873	1877
Update api and cli docs	-	1862, 1863, 1866
Update private testnet doc	1861	Dev 154, Wiki
Improve help message of get_dev_key	-	1888
Default checkpoint in testnet	1722	Dev 161
Generate doxygen docs for FC and other libraries	741	1851, FC-141

Unit Tests

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Fix chain_test: Committee and witnesses initialization in genesis	-	1835, 1928

Release Contributors

@abitmore
@cedar-book
@crypto-ape
@jmjatlanta
@nathanhourt
@oxarbitrage
@OpenLedgerApp
@pmconrad
@xeroc

[abitmore]

Updated a few things.

[MichelSantos]

@abitmore Please note a minor point that the "the minimum build requirements have changed" since Core 3.1.0

[abitmore]

@MichelSantos I didn't understand your comment. I didn't see any change about build requirements in release notes of 3.1, but did see some in 3.2. What do we need to do?

[MichelSantos]

@abitmore You are correct that the build requirements changed in 3.2.0. My minor concern was that the usage of the word "since" could be interpreted to include or exclude the mentioned release; I was thinking exclude. My suggestion is to rephrase to "starting since" or "starting in" to convey that it includes the mentioned release.

[abitmore]

@MichelSantos please feel free to edit.

[abitmore]

Starting from this release we require CMake 3.2.