Release Notes for the 201902 Feature Release of BitShares Core

[MichelSantos]

Release Notes

The BitShares Core software has been updated to the 201902 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 multple optimizations and bug fixes but does not include any changes to the consensus protocol. Numerous performance improvements have been made that will benefit all operators of validation nodes including block producers, seeds, and API nodes especially Elastic Search API nodes.

No upgrade or action is required by any users for this release.

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.

All operators will benefit from improvements to performance (1079, 1472, 1095), enhancements (1550), and fixes (1118, 1461).

Operators of API nodes will benefit from enhancements (1051, 842, 1018), and a fix (1490).

Operators of Elastic Search API nodes will benefit from improvements to performance (1541, 1455, 1429).

Upgrade Process

Precautions

A replay will automatically be performed after an upgraded node is restarted.

How to Upgrade from Source Code

Obtain the Source Code

The TESTNET source code may be obtained by checking out the test-2.0.190206 tag

Download the TESTNET source at:

• test-2.0.190206.zip
• test-2.0.190206

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
• OS X
• Windows
• Windows Development Environment

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

CLI Binaries for Windows

TODO Update URLs below

A binary of the command line interface (CLI) wallet for Windows is pre-built and available for download at BitShares-Core-2.0.XXXXXX-Windows-x64-cli-tools.zip.

For Mac please download BitShares-Core-2.0.XXXXXX-macOS-cli-tools.tar.gz.

Changes

The changes for 201902 Feature Release are summarized below.

Core Functionality

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Add last vote time in account object	1393	1449
Update all asset-related API's to support asset symbol as parameter	1051	1272
Expand get_top_markets API to return more data fields	842	1549
(Human-readable message needed for assert)	1018	1531
get_account_history_operations fails with partial_history and stop at 0	1490	1494
database_api::verify_account_authority is broken	1366	1384

Node Functionality

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Make better use of multi-core servers	1079	1360
Setup Private Testnet --create-genesis-json creates witness_node_data_dir	1118	1529
Review and backport EOS PR 3392 packing/unpacking array-like types	995	FC 100, 103
Get_key_references performance issue?	1472	1499
Cache a pointer to account_statistics_object in account object?	1095	1462
Fix for errors while loading object_database	-	1461
Avoid calling exit from within a library	1110	1529
About skip_fork_db flag	1313	1527
Change more 32 bit data fields to 64 bit	1206	1347

Node Plugins

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Add startup message to all plugins	1459	1502
[Improve plugin loader]	PR 1427	1437
Add es-objects-start-es-after-block option	-	1541
Add start-es-inserts-after-block option to elasticsearch plugin	1455	1458
Add an adaptor to es_objects and template function to reduce code	-	1429

Command Line Interface Wallet (CLI)

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Capture Ctrl+C in cli_wallet when not in daemon mode	1193	1232

Build Process

Description	Issue	Pull Request
BitShares Core uses Boost::Signal, which is deprecated	1512	1503, 1514, FC 101
(Mac) std::min requires 2 matching parameters	1560	1561
Build warnings - throw within destructor	1246	1510, 1511
(OpenSUSE) Linking failure	1504	1504, 1516
Build simplification	-	1547
cli_wallet build failure on Ubuntu 18.04	1418	1539
Fix build errors and a warning	-	1421, 1426
Bump fc after re-improving compile time resource usage	-	1417
Bump fc and fix node	-	1405
BitShares-fc compilation warnings	1383	FC 84

Unit Tests

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Finish / fix price_to_string_test	1186	1518

Documentation

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Add a readme file to programs directory	1532	1534
Add network-mapper to programs README	1558	1559
Change description of delayed_node option	1407	1410

Miscellaneous

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Cleanup	-	1533
Rename API param operation_id to operation_type	-	1544
Port Network Mapper from bitshares-1	1550	1555

Release Contributors

@abitmore
@HarukaMa
@cogutvalera
@jmjatlanta
@nathanhourt
@oxarbitrage
@pmconrad

[pmconrad]

Thanks. IIRC we highlighted API changes in previous releases, or is that what you mean with "Core functionality"?.

• network_mapper (Port Network Mapper from bitshares-1 #1550 Add network mapper from bitshares-1 #1555) should be moved to "Miscellaneous"
• Better title for "PERLLIB=${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}" should be "PERLLIB=${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}" #1418 / Fixes #1418 - Fix CMake Doxygen Perl reference #1539: cli_wallet build failure on Ubuntu 18.04
• Change description of delayed_node option #1410 is Documentation
• Avoid calling exit from within a library #1110 / Avoid calling exit from inside library, and removed "create-genesis-json" startup option #1529, About skip_fork_db flag #1313 / Remove use of skip_fork_db flag #1527 and Change more 32 bit data fields to 64 bit #1206 / 1347 is Node functionality
• Update copyright for 2019 (master) #1523 / Update Copyright to 2020 #1524 is not in the release

[MichelSantos]

Thanks. IIRC we highlighted API changes in previous releases, or is that what you mean with "Core functionality"?.

@pmconrad I intended "Core functionality" to include changes that affect behavior or data that is visible to users. That definition includes consensus changes and API changes. If you recommend that this categorization or name should be changed, or explicitly defined, or split into more categories, I will do so.

[MichelSantos]

@pmconrad The following changes have been made by your description

* `network_mapper` (#1550 #1555) should be moved to "Miscellaneous"
* Better title for #1418 / #1539: `cli_wallet` build failure on Ubuntu 18.04
* #1110 / #1529, #1313 / #1527 and #1206 / 1347 is Node functionality

I do not understand the following because the items is already in the Documentation category

* #1410 is Documentation

#1523 references this Milestone. The release note no longer references it but the PR should be updated.

* #1523 / #1524 is **not** in the release

[pmconrad]

#1410 is also under "Misc", I didn't notice it under "Documentation". What I mean then is to remove it from "Misc".

PR #1523 wasn't merged. I've cleared the Milestone.

[abitmore]

Released.