Are very old clients still able to participate on the bitcoin network?

[Evil-Knievel]

Just out of curiosity.
Let us say I have a very old bitcoin client installed (like v 0.3): Would this client still be able to talk to the other (newer) bitcoin nodes or are all the new protocol changes like "inv" messages backward incompatible?

Evil

[Evil-Knievel]

EDIT: I think I have found the answer.
Current clients can only talk to other clients with have at least version:

static const int GETHEADERS_VERSION = 31800;


Hiowever, Bitcoin Client v.0.3.24 has only version 10300 and therefore it cannot connect to other peers.

[gmaxwell]

EDIT: I think I have found the answer.
Current clients can only talk to other clients with have at least version:

static const int GETHEADERS_VERSION = 31800;


Hiowever, Bitcoin Client v.0.3.24 has only version 10300 and therefore it cannot connect to other peers.

0.3.24 has version 32400, but nodes that old will almost certainly get stuck pretty much right away due to old bugs.