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Last Forking Warning For Bitcoin

Posted by samzenpus on from the listen-up dept.

ASDFnz writes "It has been just over two months since the bitcoin block chain was rocked by a near disastrous fork causing the bitcoin price to crash. The culprit of the crash was found to be a bug that prevented pre version 7.1 bitcoin clients accepting large blocks that could be generated by version 8 clients. A temporary fix was put into place by Bitcoin Project lead developer Gavin Andresen that forced version 8 clients to generate blocks that version 7.1 could understand. It is important to note though, the fix was a temporary one! In just under two days on the 15th of May the fix will expire and version 8 clients will once again be able to make large blocks that older clients will not be able to understand."

9 of 334 comments (clear)

  1. Those disastrous forks by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Funny

    Those disastrous forks can be a real nuisance.

  2. Damn by MadKeithV · · Score: 5, Funny

    Damn, I thought this was going to be the last forking warning against posting Bitcoin stories on Slashdot.

  3. Extra value! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    As a digital coin collector, I am extremely excited by these rare, limited edition "forked" bitcoins that will soon no longer be tender. I am trying to gather up as many as I can.

  4. Re:ASDFnz is a liar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    2 moths ago, price was 240. Now it's 120. That's half the size it used to be. I think the trouble is you have trouble seeing the screen with your head up your ass. Enjoy your nerdcoins.

  5. Tulips anyone? by WinstonWolfIT · · Score: 2, Funny

    Or beanie babies? Anyone? Anyone?

  6. Let me see if I understand this by davidbrit2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Basically, the long block chains are $2 bills, and the 7.1 client is Taco Bell. Is that about right?

  7. Re:Crap, the sky is falling by thoth · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just update their software.

    Yes, "that's all" clients need to do. But since the BitCoin enthusiasts are generally anti-government anti-central-control Libertarian types, how do you force anyone in particular to upgrade? Won't they see that as some sort of central control coercing them against their will?

    To me, this is the most fascinating about BitCoin so far and I'm interested to see how it is handled. In a network with no central control made of anti authority anti coercion attitudes, how to you force a client software upgrade? Maybe some dedicated hardware miners can't upgrade?. Especially if a significant block of miners remains on pre-bugfix clients? Maybe they just won't give a shit and ignore post-bugfix signature blocks.

  8. Re:Crap, the sky is falling by squiggleslash · · Score: 3, Funny

    You can remember your currency collapsing during your lifetime?

    Oh, USA also had that, it was called the Continental. Today it's called the Federal.

    Wait, how old are you?!

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  9. Re:Crap, the sky is falling by roman_mir · · Score: 3, Funny

    I don't know, after all inflation and restructuring.... pretty old

    --
    You can't handle the truth.