MaidSafe Dev Update - 12th July 2016

Development Updates
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Hi everyone, as you may know we have frozen the codebase in Crust, Routing and most of Vaults. This is in anticipation of moving the project forward in the very near future. It will be time to progress the Alpha releases when we are more satisfied with the current client APIs and client codebase. We are close to such a milestone, but do need another bit of testing to make sure we as a community are all happy to proceed. We have felt the pain of not just calling this sooner, but care and attention is paramount.

This week we will be creating testnet 6 to allow everyone to download and feedback on the new Launcher that has received a lot of attention in the last few weeks. We have taken much of the feedback and revised the look and feel of the client-facing parts of the system. We are moving to test all the client updated code tomorrow in house and hope to release testnet 6 immediately after we are happy, as usual. This will be another test with all of the usual caveats. We do appreciate the huge effort and assistance the community has given us during the tests. It will be very comforting to switch gear again and move through a more formal process of iterative releases, with a full user experience being tested, from the download button through installers and using the code in a wider audience.

The past week has seen much more in depth discussion in house regarding security, consensus and architecture going forward. We are certainly in a really nice position now with our simplified and cleaner codebase, but we obviously have a lot of effort left. There has been a lot of effort into restructuring Routing to again simplify the codebase there as well as quite a bit in safe_core to enable some features the client team required. Krishna, Scott and Shankar have really pushed the client codebase forward a lot. This was really important as the client had fallen behind while we were so focussed on the network components.

In this same vein, the interviews should be proceeding now to build the team. The shortlist has been agreed and letters sent out. So the team leaders have more work on their hands, but this will pay off. The candidate quality is very high and that is excellent news.

As ever, please enjoy testnet 6 later in the week. There won’t be many more testnets now :wink:

Crust, Core: Spandan (tl) & Vinicius

Most of the work in these libraries was refactoring and code enhancements (error recovery was one of them). The features added were mostly those that were demanded by client and front-end codes. The file creation API is now lower level, which means that Self-Encryption is more exposed to the Launcher. This should prevent the creation of zero byte files. Also added was the facility to get account information, which comprises of the number of PUTs done so far and the balance of PUTs remaining for the user.

Routing, Vaults: Adam, Andreas (tl), Fraser & Qi

While our cleanup, refactoring and test improvements are still ongoing, we are also back at the whiteboard to finalise our long-term plan that will get us from where we are (a proof-of-concept test network) to where we want to be (a stable, secure, persistent, upgradable network with an integrated cryptocurrency), taking into account all the lessons we learned from coding and from the community tests. This will be a long and detailed discussion and should result in a complete architecture of the final product.

It’s also worth mentioning that RFC #34 (Refactor ImmutableData::name() Function) was implemented in Routing last week.

Client: Krishna (tl), Scott & Shankar

Last week we tested the Launcher patch version while we simultaneously started working on the new Launcher UI. By the middle of last week we got the Launcher to a stable state after internal testing. We were able to run the Launcher application for a longer duration without restart.

Now we are integrating the new UI and we are close to getting the tasks wrapped up. We hope to start testing the new Launcher tomorrow and once the new Launcher version is stable we hope to roll out the latest version by this week.

P.S. There is one week left to submit proposals for the SAFE Browser RFP :slight_smile:

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First :smile: and now I’m going to read it :wink:

Edit: Bring on the next testnet!

@frabrunelle it would definitely help if the next Testnet post could come with some pointers on how the community can best help out. I know others and myself have felt that we could perhaps be doing more, but we weren’t sure how exactly. Perhaps just mucking about is all the team needs from us, if so it’s good to just mention that as well :slight_smile:

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Epic timing.

Thanks for the update you have been epic as always.

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Go Ants!!! Tiime to read the weekly update :slight_smile:

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Really great update – thanks, Francis! The momentum is palpable …

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Great update!

Will the alpha release be expected to persist and allow 3rd party applications to alpha release too? Will there be data limits in the alpha release too? Obviously, without safecoin, presumably there could be capacity issues etc, but it would be good to know if the network will become at least somewhat usable.

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Yeuhhh. TEST 6 is coming :thumbsup:. What will be the difference with TEST 5 which we couldn’t kill? Is there a different focus? Are even more security valves removed this time to definitely kill the thing??

Great work by the team as always, keep up the good work. Great to hear some new folks will join.

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thanks for the great update! i have a few questions:

  • is there any particular part of the network TEST6 is aimed at?
  • what was the result of TEST5? It was supposed to last a short while
    only but then lasted a lot longer? I guess that’s a good sign cause it means
    the network is harder to kill than anticipated?
  • any news from the CEP? is there a solid proposal for the browser yet?
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Did I see the word Alpha? Really?

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Great update Francis…you have filled the spot well!

As in Testnet 6 → Alpha?

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:ok_hand: :hugging: the mockups looked great i’m really looking forward to the new launchers =)

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Will the alpha network that persists be where updates are pushed for test safecoin and then real safecoin? Curious how that process will play out. As always great update, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter

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Yes during the Alpha → Beta stage. Safecoin & messaging will be implemented and are not difficult, but the discussions we are having atm are more security and efficiency related, including data persistence. So well worth getting right with all the changes recently. These are always huge topics.

Today was a marathon debate day and we will have many more this week and next at least. This is why I feel we are in a great position. With the expanding, increasingly more professional team then it all just gets better. We will all be delighted to now move onto the next stage. It took us long enough :smiley:

Lots and lots to do but the teams are working exceptionally well these days and able to handle change, design and tests etc. with much more ease. It is really great to see that expand now, there are a lot of busy tired heads so it’s essential to ease the workload and get more staff in. I really expect the community will start to also see large benefits now, it will all work together and that is great.

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if (testnet6 < alpha) {
alert (‘most likely’)
} else {
alert (‘Booyakasha’)
}

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I like how it’s admitted that a lot more effort is still needed; I like this new truthful direction! It keeps things real, without false expectations – both for the workers and the adopters and investors. I also feel like there will be more people now, so when some are tired, others are there to replace in, keeping the workload going. Keep up the great pace!

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:+1:

ah those 20 characters… thanks for the great update, can’t wait for testing all this new launcher stuff

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[whining voice]
Does this mean I can start farming for safecoin soon?
[/whining voice]

(From an account created five minutes ago.)

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Thanks Maidsafe team for another great update, can’t wait to get started with test6. :stuck_out_tongue: And thumbs up for all the energetic ants that keep jumping on these tests :+1:

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Sounds like the best update in a while!

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