The previous week proved to be rather intense for all participants in the Ethereum ecosystem. The DAO has demonstrated that crafting smart contracts demands significantly more diligence than we initially foresaw; moreover, it has highlighted the unexpected amount of discussion required to achieve agreement on matters of this magnitude.
Members of our community expressed their opinions candidly on how the dilemma should be resolved, or even if there is a problem that needs addressing in the first place. While numerous individuals have proposed an immediate hard-fork, the ramifications of such a decision are still not entirely comprehended. An alternative proposal involved implementing a soft-fork that would enable miners to temporarily suspend particular transactions, striving to recover the funds without executing any invasive measures on the Ethereum protocol itself.
Since there is no definitive, ideal course of action that will equally please all community members, we have opted to empower the individuals operating Ethereum to determine whether they endorse this choice or not.
In this regard, we have launched version 1.4.8 of Geth (codename “DAO Wars”) as a minor patch release to provide the community with a voice in deciding whether to temporarily halt TheDAOs v1.0 from dispensing funds or otherwise. If the community opts to freeze the funds, only a limited number of whitelisted accounts will be able to reclaim the frozen assets and restore them to their original owners. A similar option is available in version 1.2.0 of Parity as well.
Note: Should the soft-fork be approved, it will prevent all DAOs from disbursing funds, not merely the ones the community views as compromised. This is understandably undesirable for all legitimately separated DAOs. Therefore – if the community votes to implement the soft-fork – we propose a subsequent patch to the soft-fork that will whitelist all DAOs divided according to the intention supported by the enforced soft-fork.
How to utilize this release?
Miners who endorse the DAO soft-fork can do so by initiating Geth 1.4.8 with –dao-soft-fork. This will result in the block gas limits being reduced to Pi million until the determining block 1800000 (approximately 6 days from now) is reached. If the gas limit of this block is less than or equal to 4M, the soft-fork will be enacted and (all updating) miners will begin obstructing DAO transactions that release funds.
Miners not supporting the DAO soft-fork can operate Geth as usual without any additional parameters required. They will aim to maintain the block gas limits at the current 4.7 million. If the gas limit for the decisive block exceeds 4M, the soft-fork will be rejected, and (all updating) miners will accept DAO transactions that disburse funds.
Note: All updating clients will agree on the outcome of the vote and will comply with that decision. Should the soft-fork vote succeed, miners opposed to it will also start blocking transactions; conversely, if the soft-fork is rejected, miners in favor will likewise accept all transactions.
What if I choose not to update?
Miners who do not update inherently vote against the soft-fork, as they will continue the ongoing logic of maintaining the gas limit above the voting threshold. If the soft-fork is embraced by the majority, non-updating miners will still process blocked transactions. In that scenario, non-updating miners will either diverge into their own Ethereum network, separating from the majority, or will relinquish any blocks they mined (since those are not recognized by the majority, nullifying the minority blocks).
Should non-miners (nodes, wallets, mist, etc.) upgrade?
From the viewpoint of non-miners, this update holds minimal significance. Regardless of the result of the vote, both outcomes are equally valid from a regular node’s perspective, thereby enabling ordinary nodes to accept the more dominant chain chosen by miners without needing to understand the soft-fork’s mechanics or conclusions.
Epilogue
This release introduces a soft-fork. A soft-fork is entirely compatible with all protocol regulations and necessitates only the agreement of the majority of miners to be executed. It is temporary and can be rescinded/amended at any moment upon miner consensus. It does not violate protocol guidelines; it does not revert any executed transactions/blocks; and it does not alter any blockchain status beyond the original protocol capacities.
Note: This release does not signify consent to hard-fork the network. It simply serves as a means to afford individuals additional time to devise the most optimal solution.