Dash Core v18.0.0.0 RC1 Released

[Pasta]

RC1 has been released https://github.com/dashpay/dash/releases/tag/v18.0.0.0-rc1

This release does not include "signed" / notarized binaries for mac / windows (they are gpg signed, just not in the way mac / windows wants) so you may or may not have additional warnings / difficulties running it.

Please report any and all issues to https://github.com/dashpay/dash/issues. Bounties may be awarded for bugs reported as described here https://trello.com/c/3kmB1Ixf/149-dash-core-bug-bounty.

Let me know if there are any questions. A product brief / product update outlining the high level changes will be released in the near future. Release notes will be published near the final release. There may be multiple RCs released in the next few weeks. We hope to release a final release in 4-6 weeks.

 

[qwizzie]

Thank you for utilizing the 'Official Development News and Information' thread of this forum. This is a good way for the Dash community to measure progress on development of not only v.18.0.0.0 (good to see we are following Bitcoin's version numbering now by the way), but also a good way to follow the progress on future updates.

Four to six weeks from current release candidate v18.0.0.0 RC1 (Testnet) to final release candidate for Dash (Testnet --> Mainnet), this is good to know. Thank you.

 

[xkcd]

It would be good to know the plans around fork on testnet too.
OR.... Did you already fork testnet? Qwizzie ain't gonna be happy.

 

[Pasta]

It would be good to know the plans around fork on testnet too.
OR.... Did you already fork testnet? Qwizzie ain't gonna be happy.

View attachment 11190

This is a bug in the getgovernanceinfo rpc command. I have submitted a PR fixing it https://github.com/dashpay/dash/pull/4778, expect it to be fixed in RC2

If you try to submit a proposal it'll still cost 5 dash atm, and the HF is not active (you can look at `getblockchaininfo`)

 

[vazaki3]

Questions for v18.0.0.0 RC1

1. Can I install v18.0.0.0 RC1 into a win10/11 or Mac machine, without for it to ask me administrator priviledges?
2. Does v18.0.0.0 RC1 passes the Antivirus Test of win10/11 or Mac?
3. In the v17 , when run it in old/slow/LowMemory machines and tried to close the Dash QT, it popped up a message saying "do not turn off or shutdown until this message disappears". The message disappears, but in the task manager the Dash process is still alive, for more than 1 minute after the warning msg is gone!!!! This remaining process occurs especially when the wallet is not synced. Is this bug still active in v18.0.0.0 RC1 ?

 

[Pasta]

RC3 has been released https://github.com/dashpay/dash/releases/tag/v18.0.0.0-rc3

You can see the list of changes here: https://github.com/dashpay/dash/compare/v18.0.0.0-rc1...v18.0.0.0-rc3?expand=1, the gist is we fixed some bugs and added translations

 

[Pasta]

Questions for v18.0.0.0 RC1

1. Can I install v18.0.0.0 RC1 into a win10/11 or Mac machine, without for it to ask me administrator priviledges?
2. Does v18.0.0.0 RC1 passes the Antivirus Test of win10/11 or Mac?
3. In the v17 , when run it in old/slow/LowMemory machines and tried to close the Dash QT, it popped up a message saying "do not turn off or shutdown until this message disappears". The message disappears, but in the task manager the Dash process is still alive, for more than 1 minute after the warning msg is gone!!!! This remaining process occurs especially when the wallet is not synced. Is this bug still active in v18.0.0.0 RC1 ?

1. probably on windows yes, I'm pretty sure installing virtually any program requires admin permissions. I think on macOS you don't need admin perms, but I'm not sure.
2. depends what you mean. We don't build windows / macOS signed binaries so they are more likely to warn you / block you from installing. but the AV itself shouldn't be detecting on anything (except for normal detects for crypto wallets)
3. dunno, that bug isn't tracked on GitHub.com/dashpay/dash/issues

 

[vazaki3]

1. probably on windows yes, I'm pretty sure installing virtually any program requires admin permissions. I think on macOS you don't need admin perms, but I'm not sure.
2. depends what you mean. We don't build windows / macOS signed binaries so they are more likely to warn you / block you from installing. but the AV itself shouldn't be detecting on anything (except for normal detects for crypto wallets)

In order to avoid the above issues....For the windows operating system, why dont you additionaly provide an installation solution based on a portable format ?

What Is a “Portable” App, and Why Does It Matter? (howtogeek.com)
Transform Install Only Applications into Portable Applications (howtogeek.com)

I could do it myself, but I am afraid that the dash community would not trust the signed hash value of the executables I would provide...
Is it maybe because I am signing by using my empty Dash address?.......... XnpT2YQaYpyh7F9twM6EtDMn1TCDCEEgNX ?

So please, let DCG sign a portable format installation, and give it to the dash community.

3. dunno, that bug isn't tracked on GitHub.com/dashpay/dash/issues

I have no github account. I am banned there, remember?. Can I report it to gitlab?

 

[qwizzie]

Release candidate 4 for use on Dash Testnet has been released 4 days ago, for those interested in either testing Dash release candidates or being interested in getting up to speed with the Dash Testnet progress. It seems there were some stability issues (and bugs) with previous release candidates, hopefully rc 4 will be more stable.

Source : https://github.com/dashpay/dash/releases

Here are the changes between rc3 and rc4 : https://github.com/dashpay/dash/compare/v18.0.0.0-rc3...v18.0.0-rc4
For changes between rc1 and rc4 : https://github.com/dashpay/dash/compare/v18.0.0.0-rc1...v18.0.0-rc4

 

[qwizzie]

I am surprised to see a 'feat' pull request still being committed into v18.0 at this stage (during an explicit feature freeze state of v18.0), instead of simply moving it over to v.18.1

See : https://github.com/dashpay/dash/commit/3e35e11a4ab7264a76fb65b15a5c7c68c95440d0

feat(qt): Add an option to keep custom change address by UdjinM6 · Pull Request #4860 · dashpay/dash

Allow users to keep custom change address they specified earlier from one tx to another and between restarts. This can be useful for wallets handling donation/charity/etc. addresses, would allow th...

github.com

If the 'feat' forms a fix in itself i can understand the reason, but this is a 'feat' pull request that just adds something and could have easily moved to v18.1

What makes this even more strange is the following :

"requested by TheDesertLynx on Discord recently but we are in feature-freeze mode so targeting 18.1)"

Yet it seems to have been committed to v18.0 if i am not mistaken ?

So there seems to be still some inconsistency with the current feature freeze state of v18.0 among the developers. I noticed this before when quantum explorer (CTO of DCG) commented on another 'feat' pull request (end of march 2022) that he preferred to have moved to v.18.1 because of the need for v18.0 to be in a feature frozen state at that point (see : https://github.com/dashpay/dash/pull/4740). Frankly, i thought we were in an explicit feature freeze state for v18.0 even many months before march 2022.

More features getting implemented on v18.0 will most likely lead to more delayment of v18.0 which is clearly something that should be avoided with v.18.0 current delayment / behind schedule.

I hope that with a next major update (v19) the feature freeze state (once set) will be much more understood and followed by developers, and the current inconsistency will no longer be an issue.

Any update on release candicate 5 : is it still looking good, stable and bug free or can we expect a release candidate 6?

Update : release candidate 6 just popped up on github, so that answers that.
Link : https://github.com/dashpay/dash/pull/4868

 

[thephez]

I am surprised to see a 'feat' pull request still being committed into v18.0 at this stage (during an explicit feature freeze state of v18.0), instead of simply moving it over to v.18.1

See : https://github.com/dashpay/dash/commit/3e35e11a4ab7264a76fb65b15a5c7c68c95440d0

feat(qt): Add an option to keep custom change address by UdjinM6 · Pull Request #4860 · dashpay/dash

Allow users to keep custom change address they specified earlier from one tx to another and between restarts. This can be useful for wallets handling donation/charity/etc. addresses, would allow th...

github.com

At this point the v18 code has been branched off into https://github.com/dashpay/dash/commits/v18.x, so development of 18.1 and following can continue on the develop branch. Certain fixes needed by v18.0 have been backported from develop. For example, here's RC5 vs RC6 differences: https://github.com/dashpay/dash/compare/v18.0.0-rc5...v18.0.0-rc6. Those commits only included fixes and non-code updates (e.g. copyright year in comments).

The process can be a little confusing as releases get close (i.e. seeing commits going to develop that aren't going to be in the nearest release). Checking which milestone the PR is targeted for can be a good way to see this.

 

[Pasta]

Thanks for the good response @thephez. @qwizzie, the first PR you mentioned, at the time it was opened, may have made sense to go into v18 as the scope was limited to RPC output and was requested as important by the platform team. However, the change ended up being more complicated than simply changing RPC output, and as such it hasn't been touched in a few months. I just removed it from the v18 milestone to reduce confusion. A change like it likely will be included in 18.1.