The Ethereum network will undergo a scheduled upgrade at block number 13,773,000what should happen Wednesday December 8, 2021. The exact date is subject to change due to varying block times and time zones. Please upgrade your node before Sunday, December 5, 2021 to account for varying block times.
What is Arrow Glacier?
Upgrading the Arrow Glacier network, in the same way as Muir Glacierchanges the parameters of the Ice Age/Difficulty Bomb, delaying it for several months. This was also done during the modernization of the networks of Byzantium, Constantinople and London. No other changes are being introduced as part of Arrow Glacier.
The difficulty bomb only affects Proof of Work networks and therefore only exists on the Ethereum mainnet and the Ropsten testnet. With the recent progress Towards Ethereum’s transition to Proof of Stake, it was decided to only delay the bomb on mainnet for now and try to execute the Proof of Stake transition on Ropsten before the bomb explodes on this network.
To learn more about Arrow Glacier and the history of the difficulty bomb, check out Ethereum Cat Herders’ explanatory blog post.
Client versions
In order to be compatible with the Arrow Glacier upgrade, node operators will need to update the client version they are running to one of those listed below:
Note: OpenEthereum, which was announced as obsolete earlier this yearhas released support for Arrow Glacier under version number 3.3.0-rc.14, which you can download here.
For now, we still recommend following previous deprecation warnings and selecting alternative client software. If you choose to use OE for upgrading Arrow Glacir, please exercise caution and independently review changes to the codebase before running it in production.
Upgrade Specification and EIP
Full upgrade specifications can be found in the execution specifications deposit here.
Only one EIP is included in the upgrade: EIP-4345: Bomb delay difficulty until June 2022.
As an Ethereum user or Ether holder, do I need to do anything?
If you are using an exchange, web wallet service, mobile wallet service, or hardware wallet, you do not need to do anything unless your exchange or wallet service notifies you to take additional measures.
As a node operator or miner, what should I do?
Download the latest version of your Ethereum client, as shown in the table above.
What happens if I’m a miner or node operator and don’t participate in the upgrade?
If you are using an Ethereum client that is not updated to the latest version (listed above), your client will sync with the pre-fork blockchain once the upgrade is complete. You will be stuck on an incompatible chain following the old rules and will not be able to send Ether or operate on the Ethereum network after the upgrade.
What is a network upgrade in Ethereum-land?
A network upgrade is a change to the underlying Ethereum protocol, creating new rules to improve the system. The decentralized nature of blockchain systems makes network upgrades more difficult. Network upgrades in a blockchain require cooperation and communication with the community, as well as with the developers of the different Ethereum clients for the transition to go smoothly.
What happens during a network upgrade?
Once the community has reached agreement on what changes to include in the upgrade, the protocol changes are written to the various Ethereum clients, such as Geth, Erigon, Besu, and Nethermind. Protocol changes are activated at a specific block number. Any nodes that have not been upgraded to the new set of rules will be abandoned on the old chain where the previous rules continue to exist.
Why “Arrow Glacier”?
While we’ve recently been using Devcon names for network upgrades, when we previously had an upgrade that just pushed the bomb back, we decided to change the nomenclature. To emphasize the nature of the upgrade (pushing back the “ice age”), we chose a glacier name, hence Muir Glacier.
This upgrade follows a similar pattern. Because the passage to Proof of Stake is looming on the horizon, a retreating glacier has been chosen, hence Arrow Glacier 🏔!
THANKS!
Many thanks to the Ethereum community and all Ethereum developers from all clients and platforms who come together to provide input, thoughts, and contributions. This may be the last network upgrade on Ethereum before the transition to Proof of Stake. Let’s go!
Many thanks also to Harshil Gudka for the cover image.
This is an emerging and evolving highly technical space. If you choose to implement the recommendations in this article and continue to participate, you should make sure you understand how it affects you. You should understand that there are risks, including but not limited to risks such as unexpected bugs. By choosing to implement these recommendations, you alone assume the risks and consequences. This article and recommendations do not constitute a sale of any kind and do not create any warranty of any kind, including but not limited to anything relating to the Ethereum network or the Ethereum clients mentioned in the this document.
