In Just a few days, the Frontier milestone of the Ethereum project will be live. This will be followed by ‘Homestead’, ‘Metropolis’ and ‘Serenity’ over the next year, with improved security and new features being added.
What is Frontier?
Frontier is a basic, yet live implementation of the Ethereum project. It is intended for developers and technical people. During the launch of Frontier, we expect app developers and early adopters of the app to begin creating communities and building a living ecosystem. Although they will be presented with many opportunities for settlements, they will also face risks. If you don’t like writing source codes, using command lines or other programming tasks, then it is advisable to wait for a more intuitive version of the Ethereum software before diving in.
When will Frontier be Released?
Frontier is now fully functional and the codebase has been frozen for two weeks. As a team, we are currently working on the last steps of the launch. Not all of these are technical. There won’t be a countdown and it is not something that can be ‘launched centrally’; it emerges from consensus. Users will need to install and use the particular version of the software and upload it. Information about the process will be available soon.
What can we Reasonable Assume from Frontier?
Initial ‘Thaw’: Gas Limits for the First Few Days
The first version of Frontier software will offer a hardcoded gas limit of 5000 gas per block. Unlike the regular block gas parameter, this limit will not increase according to network usage. For the first few days, transactions will be halted. This ‘thaw’ will allow miners to start their operations and early adopters can install their clients without the need for a license. After a few days, a minor update to the software will be released (probably between 3-4 days, but this could change). This update will increase the gas limit per block from five thousand to three million. This will affect the default settings of the miner.
Errors, Issues & Complications
We are very pleased with the service. The ‘Olympic’ test phase of the Ethereum Testnet is how it came to be. It is important to remember to keep working. Frontier’s software isn’t over. Expect weekly updates to access stabler and better clients. Frontier and Homestead have many differences. At Frontier, we’re going to have problems, updates, and bugs—users are taking risks when they use the software. Before the developers can install it, there’s minimal documentation and tools that require advanced technical skills.
Canary Contracts
Canary contracts, in a nutshell, have a value that is greater than or equal to zero. Each contract is managed by another member of the Eth/Dev team and will update to ‘one’ if an internal DR team flags an issue, such as a fork or a misunderstanding, to the DR department.
In each Frontier block, clients are notified when the four contracts have been reviewed. If one-fourth of these contracts saw a change in value of 0 to 1, the extraction was stopped and an alert was shown requiring any updates. This is to prevent ‘fire and forget’ miners from updating the chain.
This process is centralized and will remain in effect until the end of Frontier. You should not allow interruptions to continue for more than 24 hours.
Statistics, Bad Block Websites & High-Quality Websites
You probably already have access to our network statistics monitor. https://stats.ethdev.com/. Here’s a quick overview of network health and block resolution times. You’ll also find links to our bad block websites and high-quality websites. Both these websites will be updated regularly and will help users keep track of their transactions.
What to Anticipate & How to Prepare For Frontier Launch
Ethereum Frontier is here, and it’s time to get ready. This open-source project uses software in the public domain, so there’s plenty of help available from the community. Here’s what you need to know, and how to prepare.
First, you’ll need to download the dependencies in one installer from the Ethereum website. OSX users will be provided with a single line installer, and advanced users can install all the necessary software from the source. After that, you’ll need to generate the code for the Genesis Block, and upload it to the Frontier clients. The script for the new document will be included along with instructions, which can be found on the Ethereum website and the various Wikis.
Once you’ve installed the software, you can switch between the testnet and live networks by switching on the console at geth (Network Identification). New builds will automatically connect to the network. To switch back to the testnet, simply state a network ID number of ‘0’.
It’s important to remember that participation is voluntary when it comes to submitting statistics. You can find more information at the status page (https://status.ethdev.com/) which will give you an overview of any issue. If you have any questions, this is the first port of call. Additionally, the public website (https://badblocks.ethdev.com/) is available to monitor network problems.
Over the last few weeks, Ethereum Testnet has been tested for scalability and crash propagation times. We encourage you to spam our network with transaction and contract creation codes as part of this test. This can result in more than 25 transactions per hour, making it difficult for new users to use the testnet and leading to a large size. This was the main reason that the Olympic Reward Distribution took place shortly after the publication of Frontier. PhiStr90 is a special mention, as well as Dino and Samuel Lavery for their assistance during stress testing.
So, what’s next? Frontier users will need to switch on the console at geth (Network Identification) to switch between the testnet and live networks. The official version can be found in the gitbook, and more information is available at the main wiki, the client wiki, and the wiki information about c++ clients. If you would like to learn more about mining, please visit the guide questions on our forums.
Finally, if you need help, Ethereum’s official website is the best place to start. Then, follow by the forums and the talk about Ethereum channels. Your particular issue may also be a problem with the Ether Sale or your wallet won’t allow you to charge your pre-sale orders, in which case you can contact the helpdesk address. You can also find help in your community at one of our local offices, 115 meetings worldwide. If your city is not on the list, please add it.