https://news.bitshares.org/wp-content/uploads/core-60-mainnet-release.jpg

Introduction

The past year has seen a lot happen in BitShares. What seems like way back, BitShares 5.0 dropped in Sept 2020. Then a huge amount of business development went down culminating in the article report from July you can find at that link. All of which is ongoing - regardless whether recent updates are low in volume. Today's article focuses on the purely technical. BitShares Core v6.0.0 "MEKONG" is now live. All node operators are advised to upgrade. Savvy and tech-minded BitShares enthusiasts will also want to dive down on some details below (or by following the link to GitHub). On behalf of the community, Thanks goes out to BitShares Core team led by @abitmore for the continued evolution and innovation of BitShares - the original DPoS blockchain.

BitShares v6.0.0 contains other than essential fixes and enhancements, a new feature relating to zero-collateral funding. This involves a user ability to access funds from a pool or several pools and pay them back instantly in the same transaction, without the need to lock collateral.

BitShares Core v6.0.0 Release Notes

These notes are taken from the draft here on BitShares GitHub repo, thus are subject to change. For reference only.

The BitShares Core software has been updated to the 6.0.0 Protocol Release. The code-name of the 6.x releases is "MEKONG". The Core software is used to build the validation nodes that perform consensus of all transactions on the BitShares blockchain. This release includes additions, improvements and changes to the consensus protocol. Documentation for users may be be found at How BitShares Works. Documentation for BitShares developers may be found at the BitShares Developer Portal.

Who Should Upgrade

All node operators must upgrade to handle the protocol upgrade.

How To Upgrade

Precautions:

All validation nodes must complete their upgrade prior to Protocol Activation
A blockchain replay will automatically be performed after the validation node software is restarted. This typically takes a few hours on a modern CPU.

How to Upgrade from Source Code

Note:

The code base requires a compiler that supports the C++ 14 standard
The minimum supported boost version is 1.58, the maximum is 1.74
The minimum supported CMake version is 3.2
For Ubuntu users, it is recommended to build in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa). Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) is no longer supported.

Obtain the Source Code

The source code may be obtained by checking out the 6.0.0 tag. Download the source at:

Build the Binaries

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

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

(TBD: Docker auto-build no longer works, we need to manually push to Docker Hub) The latest Docker image may be found at BitShares Core Docker page and updated with

docker pull bitshares/bitshares-core:6.0.0

Binaries for download

Binaries of the command line interface (CLI) wallet and the node software are pre-built and available for download. Note: These 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	b721383133d56fd2a6469a2aac73c92f7fe518f48a2d6a2484d1dd9dcf6c5527
Mac	c5c2ee313233aa06c42ea08f9dd747261dec61399ff1011b9f93b3553a84b868
Linux	042740d4e816b80d909d8c82acbefb3ddd20e5b833cace2cfd1816be090eaac1

Changes

The changes for 6.0.0 Protocol Release are summarized below.

Protocol

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Add no-collateral funding feature	2351	2469, 2474, 2476
Add simple collateralized P2P funding feature	2362	2479, 2502
Add 3 new black swan response methods	2467	2499
Add missing asset authorization checks for certain operations	972, 973	2468
Add option for MPA owners to disable collateral bidding	2281	2504
Allow bitasset options to be updated after GS	2282	2506
Match force-settlements with margin calls at normal margin call fill price	2481	2489
Revive GSed bitassets based on ICR rather than MCR	2290	2505
Skip asset authorization checks for from_account for override_transfer	2295	2465
Update liquidity pool exchange operations to comply with whitelist and blacklist market settings	2350	2462, 2507

Node Functionality

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Delete unneeded directories when writing object database to disk	-	2485

Node Performance and Stability

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Clear operation_results when generating block	-	2475
Remove BSIP-40 support for unused operations	-	2482

Node Plugins

Description	Plugins	Issue	Pull Request
Fix liquidity pool deposit statistics	Market History	-	2471
Notify all related accounts on account creation	Account History	265	2480
Fix a crash when starting the ElasticSearch plugin	ElasticSearch Operations	2490	2495

API

Please check the linked pull requests for more info and documentation.

Description	Issue	Pull Request
The `get_block` API will return an empty `operation_results` field for blocks produced by nodes with version `6.0.0` or higher	-	2475

Software Design

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Upgrade the Docker base image to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)	-	2473
Phase out Ubuntu 16.04	2217	-

Build Process and Continuous Integration (CI)

Description	Issue	Pull Request
Update version for Sonar Scanner	-	2437, 2458
Add OS version to cache key in sonar-scan workflow	-	2486, 2487

Documentation

Description	Issue	Pull Request

Unit Tests

Description	Issue	Pull Request

Release Contributors

@abitmore

@xiao93

Thanks to all Contributors and Community members for support and trust in our vision and technology.

When to Upgrade

If you're reading this, BitShares Core 6.0 Codename "Mekong" software is available and all node and gateway operators should start upgrade.
The BitShares Hard Fork time for MAINNET is Tuesday, January 11, 2022 14:00:00 UTC and thus also the deadline by which all node operators should have completed the upgrade. A major release occurs for BitShares approximately once every year or 12-18 months. Follow us on Twitter to be notified on new publications from the verified media source on BitShares.

Cross-posted from BitShares News using Exxp to Hive.blog : https://news.bitshares.org/bitshares-core-v6-mekong/