Bitcoin ABC 0.29.3 Release Notes

Bitcoin ABC version 0.29.3 is now available from:

https://download.bitcoinabc.org/0.29.3/

Chronik LOKAD ID index

To allow users to build applications on top of eCash, the LOKAD ID index has been added.

This is enabled by default, and after restarting, it takes a few hours to sync the index. If you don't need it, you should disable it with -chroniklokadidindex=0.

The LOKAD ID spec has been around for a while, and has been used in a few prominent protocols, such as SLP.

However, usage hasn't been too high, which is probably because the indexing infrastructure simply wasn't as good as it could be.

Chronik's new LOKAD ID index finds all txs that follow the spec, and also extends it by allowing LOKAD ID prefixes in eMPP pushdata to be detected, as well as LOKAD ID push op prefixes in scriptSigs. The latter is especially useful for apps building on top of SLP, which can't handle additional protocols in the OP_RETURN.

There are endpoints for /lokad-id/<lokad id hex>/{confirmed-txs,unconfirmed-txs,history}, as well as listening to WebSocket updates on LOKAD IDs. A UTXOs endpoint is not available as LOKAD IDs are per-tx, not per-output.

Bitcoin ABC 0.29.2 Release Notes

Bitcoin ABC version 0.29.2 is now available from:

https://download.bitcoinabc.org/0.29.2/

This release includes the following features and fixes:

• The sharing field from the getavalancheinfo RPC was deprecated since v0.28.0 and has now been removed.

Bitcoin ABC 0.29.1 Release Notes

Bitcoin ABC version 0.29.1 is now available from:

https://download.bitcoinabc.org/0.29.1/

This is a hotfix release to fix a bug that could cause the node to connect to the same peer twice. Only v0.29.0 is affected by the bug.

Bitcoin ABC 0.29.0 Release Notes

Bitcoin ABC version 0.29.0 is now available from:

https://download.bitcoinabc.org/0.29.0/

Chronik

The Chronik indexer is now available as an opt-in option to the Bitcoin ABC node software for Linux and Windows. Chronik gives you access to a brand new API to get notified of finalized blocks, retrieve transaction history by eCash address, gather eToken transaction data, and much more. To enable Chronik, simply turn it on with the -chronik option.

Take a look at the full setup and API documentation to get an overview of the features, and start building your own application with the chronik-client npm package.

Network upgrade

At the MTP time of 1715774400 (May 15, 2024 12:00:00 UTC), the following changes will become activated:

• Bump automatic replay protection to the next upgrade, timestamp 1731672000 (November 15, 2024 12:00:00 UTC).

Bitcoin ABC 0.28.12 Release Notes

Bitcoin ABC version 0.28.12 is now available from:

https://download.bitcoinabc.org/0.28.12/

This release includes the following features and fixes:

• It is possible to manually set several staking reward winners via the setstakingreward RPC by setting the optional append flag. The getstakingreward RPC now returns an array to reflect this change. The old behavior remains available via the -deprecatedrpc=getsatkingreward option. This change of behavior only affects the node's avalanche vote and has no effect on mining.

Bitcoin ABC 0.28.11 Release Notes

Bitcoin ABC version 0.28.11 is now available from:

https://download.bitcoinabc.org/0.28.11/

The sync time with chronik enabled (experimental) has been dramatically reduced.

Bitcoin ABC 0.28.10 Release Notes

Bitcoin ABC version 0.28.10 is now available from:

https://download.bitcoinabc.org/0.28.10/

The chronik experimental release is now available for all the supported Linux platforms.

Bitcoin ABC 0.28.9 Release Notes

Bitcoin ABC version 0.28.9 is now available from:

https://download.bitcoinabc.org/0.28.9/

This is a maintenance release with no user-visible change.

Bitcoin ABC 0.28.8 Release Notes

Bitcoin ABC version 0.28.8 is now available from:

https://download.bitcoinabc.org/0.28.8/

This release includes the following features and fixes:

Wallet changes

Bitcoin ABC will no longer automatically create new wallets on startup. It will load existing wallets specified by -wallet options on the command line or in bitcoin.conf or settings.json files. And by default it will also load a top-level unnamed ("") wallet. However, if specified wallets don't exist, Bitcoin ABC will now just log warnings instead of creating new wallets with new keys and addresses like previous releases did. New wallets can be created through the GUI , through the bitcoin-cli createwallet or bitcoin-wallet create commands, or the createwallet RPC.

P2P and network changes

To address a potential denial-of-service, the logic to download headers from peers has been reworked. This is particularly relevant for nodes starting up for the first time (or for nodes which are starting up after being offline for a long time).

Whenever headers are received from a peer that have a total chainwork that is either less than the node’s -minimumchainwork value or is sufficiently below the work at the node’s tip, a “presync” phase will begin, in which the node will download the peer’s headers and verify the cumulative work on the peer’s chain, prior to storing those headers permanently. Once that cumulative work is verified to be sufficiently high, the headers will be redownloaded from that peer and fully validated and stored.

This may result in initial headers sync taking longer for new nodes starting up for the first time, both because the headers will be downloaded twice, and because the effect of a peer disconnecting during the presync phase (or while the node’s best headers chain has less than -minimumchainwork), will result in the node needing to use the headers presync mechanism with the next peer as well.

Updated RPC

The getpeerinfo RPC has been updated with a new presynced_headers field, indicating the progress on the presync phase mentioned in the “P2P and network changes” section above.

Bitcoin ABC 0.28.7 Release Notes

Bitcoin ABC version 0.28.7 is now available from:

https://download.bitcoinabc.org/0.28.7/

This release includes the following features and fixes:

• Prevent stalling the block downloads by dynamically adjusting the timeout. This will help syncing the blockchain when the network connection speed is low.