Iris Release v3.2.0 Is Here (and it’s a mandatory upgrade for Testnet)

Published on: 2 February, 2022

A new RSK Iris release has been published in the RSK GitHub repo! This release contains enhancements to the node’s JSON-RPC interface, as well as Ethereum compatibility fixes. It also introduces a consensus change for Testnet: the minimum block difficulty has been increased to avoid scenarios where a huge number of blocks would be mined in a short period of time if the difficulty dropped to the minimum levels. This has caused problems for developers working on RSK Testnet in the past, and it’s great this issue will be addressed in this new release.

Since RSK Testnet consensus rules have changed in this version, it is not compatible with previous versions (only for Testnet, this doesn’t apply to Mainnet). If you’ve been running previous versions of the RSK client node in Testnet, you are encouraged to update to this new version before the new rules are activated. RSK Testnet network upgrade will happen at block number 2,581,800. According to the current conditions of the network, this is expected to occur on Tuesday, February 15th, 2022. Please note that Mainnet consensus rules are not changing with this release, so this is a non-mandatory upgrade for RSK Mainnet nodes.

How do I upgrade to version 3.2.0?

There are no special considerations for upgrading to this version. Users need to download and update their RSKj node and no other task is required. Also, this is a mandatory upgrade for Testnet and a non-mandatory upgrade for Mainnet; however, we encourage users to upgrade nodes running in both networks to this new version.

RSKj Iris 3.2.0’s sha256 sum is fe8432293600ba403e48e50253c5cdf322d8ec578b1984d17a26bf508a061c8a rskj-core-3.2.0-IRIS-all.jar. See Reproducible Build guide for further details.

What changes are included in Iris v3.2.0?

This is a list of the most relevant changes included in this version:

Improved message queue expiration policy (#1610)
Added support for pending parameter in eth_getBlockByNumber JSON-RPC method (#1627)
JSON-RPC compatibility fixes (#1623,#1629)
Fixed eth_isSyncing method, which was not working as expected (#1618)
Introduced gas exactimation enhancements to the eth_estimateGas method (#1548)
Mining rate limiting and updated minimum block difficulty for RSK Testnet (#1615,#1671)

You can find a complete list of the changes introduced in Iris 3.2.0 milestone.

How do I report problems with this version?

It’s really important for the whole RSK community that users report any problem they may have while running RSKj Iris 3.2.0. Please reach out on RSK Open Slack or directly through creating issues in RSK GitHub repository.

How do I report security vulnerabilities?

If you find a security issue, please contact us at security@rsk.co, or report it through our bug bounty program. Security experts are rewarded, as are software developers and hackers who dedicate time and effort to improve and protect the RSK platform.

Do you have further questions?

Please get in touch through the RSK Open Slack for technical questions and support.

You can also reach out with any feedback you would like to share through RSK social media channels and forums:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RSKsmart

Telegram: https://t.me/RSKsmart

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/rootstock/

BitcoinTalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3189777.0

If you are new to RSK, you may want to check RSK Developers Portal to find out how to start building on the RSK platform.