v2.1

ARK v2.1 is a minor update, backward compatible with v2.0.X. This update introduces a complete rewrite to TypeScript , which allows for static type-checking along with the latest ECMAScript features. TypeScript is also a much stricter language than JavaScript and lets us spot mistakes that could otherwise go unnoticed. It is more convenient to use and allows for quicker error debugging. For core developers, very little has changed as the syntax is almost the same as JavaScript (Typescript is a superset of JavaScript).

TypeScript makes perfect sense for growing projects that need to scale and have a variety of contributing developers. With this update, we lay the foundation for more technical changes.

We recommend staying on the latest version of ARK; however, this upgrade does not break any APIs, thus v2.0 nodes are still able to join the network. Development on v2.0 has ceased in favor of the newer Typescript version.

  • Upgrade time: low - upgrading to v2.1 does not break any APIs and can be performed incrementally in the network.
  • Complexity: low - the internal blockchain representation is not altered.
  • Risk: low - v2.1 is backward compatible with v2.0; thus a downgrade is possible at any moment.

Breaking Changes

Plugins relying on the core-APIs may need to be refactored to TypeScript, and cannot rely on the same modules anymore. The changelog contains all changes and references to each commit.

New Features

v2.1 does not include any breaking API changes or new features, but is mainly focussed on fixing technical debt, increasing our future development velocity and improving code organization.

TypeScript

The major change in v2.1 is a full migration to TypeScript, a typed flavor of JavaScript better suited for larger codebases. Older plugins may need to be rewritten, but TypeScript now provides a smoother development experience for core and community developers. Plugin writers do not need to fear another migration, TypeScript will be used for the foreseeable future.

Debranding

BridgeChains and private chains reusing the ARK codebase previously had to debrand the codebase themselves, meaning they had to remove mentions of ARK from their configuration files and other hardcoded locations. v2.1 is blockchain-brand agnostic. In general, all variables are named the same, except that the ARK has been removed from the name.

For example:

has now been renamed to

in ~/.ark/.env and other files. We have also made editing these easier by collapsing different configuration files into a single network config.

Comprehensive Variable Changelist

The following variables were renamed/added to the configuration of a network. The changes can be found in your ~/.ark/.env and plugins.js file.

Note:

  • If the second or third column is left empty, the configuration variable must be directly edited in the plugins.js configuration file, instead of being obtained from the env.process.
  • core-transaction-pool-mem was renamed to core-transaction-pool.
  • The dynamicFees key was added to core-transaction-pool, which must be configured in the plugins.js file.
Variable v2.0.19 v2.1 default
core-logger-winston.transports.console.options.level ARK_LOG_LEVEL CORE_LOG_LEVEL ‘debug’
core-logger-winston.transports.dailyRotate.options.level ARK_LOG_LEVEL CORE_LOG_LEVEL ‘debug’
core-database-postgres.connection.host ARK_DB_HOST CORE_DB_HOST ‘localhost’
core-database-postgres.connection.port ARK_DB_PORT CORE_DB_PORT 5432
core-database-postgres.connection.database ARK_DB_DATABASE CORE_DB_DATABASE ${process.env.CORE_TOKEN}_${process.env.CORE_NETWORK_NAME}
core-database-postgres.connection.user ARK_DB_USERNAME CORE_DB_USERNAME ‘ark’
core-database-postgres.connection.password ARK_DB_PASSWORD CORE_DB_PASSWORD ‘password’
core-transaction-pool.enabled ARK_TRANSACTION_POOL_DISABLED CORE_TRANSACTION_POOL_DISABLED true
core-transaction-pool. enabled ARK_TRANSACTION_POOL_MAX_PER_SENDER CORE_TRANSACTION_POOL_MAX_PER_SENDER 300
core-transaction-pool.allowedSenders []
core-p2p.host ARK_P2P_HOST CORE_P2P_HOST “0.0.0.0”
core-p2p.port ARK_P2P_PORT CORE_P2P_PORT 4001
core-blockchain.fastRebuild false
core-api.enabled ARK_API_DISABLED CORE_API_DISABLED true
core-api.host ARK_API_HOST CORE_API_HOST “0.0.0.0”
core-api.port ARK_API_PORT CORE_API_PORT 4003
core-api.whitelist [’*’]
core-webhooks.enabled ARK_WEBHOOKS_ENABLED CORE_WEBHOOKS_ENABLED false
core-webhooks.server.enabled ARK_WEBHOOKS_API_ENABLED CORE_WEBHOOKS_API_ENABLED false
core-webhooks.server.host ARK_WEBHOOKS_HOST CORE_WEBHOOKS_HOST ‘0.0.0.0’
core-webhooks.server.port ARK_WEBHOOKS_PORT CORE_WEBHOOKS_PORT 4004
core-webhooks.server.whitelist [“127.0.0.1”, “::ffff:127.0.0.1”]
core-graphql.enabled ARK_GRAPHQL_ENABLED CORE_GRAPHQL_ENABLED false
core-graphql.host ARK_GRAPHQL_HOST CORE_GRAPHQL_HOST ‘0.0.0.0’
core-graphql.port ARK_GRAPHQL_PORT CORE_GRAPHQL_PORT 4005

| core-json-rpc.enabled | ARK_JSON_RPC_ENABLED | CORE_JSON_RPC_ENABLED | false | | core-json-rpc.host | ARK_JSON_RPC_HOST | CORE_JSON_RPC_HOST | ‘0.0.0.0’ | | core-json-rpc.port | ARK_JSON_RPC_PORT | CORE_JSON_RPC_PORT | 8080 | | core-json-rpc.allowRemote | | | false | | core-json-rpc.whitelist | | | [“127.0.0.1”, “::ffff:127.0.0.1”] | | ~/.ark/.env | ARK_NETWORK_NAME | CORE_NETWORK_NAME | ‘ark’ | | ~/.ark/.env | | CORE_TOKEN | Ѧ |

Last updated 3 years ago
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