Alert: chain fork caused by pre-0.8 clients dealing badly with large blocks

[Dabs]

So if I pet 500 BTC on SatoshiDice and lose, later on, I get my coins back? Conversely, if I win big, I won't be getting those coins.

[Blazr]

Any idea what version eligius is on?

EDIT: Luke Jr has confirmed that Eligius is currently running 0.6.0 so it's safe to mine there too.

[grantbdev]

*in a few hours

[Nemesis]

This will blast all over tech sites tmr.

This will have consequences on the price. Negatively i bet.

[auzaar]

High time that all the companies going around Bitcoin should devote time, money and resources to core bitcoin development and testing.

[LobsterMan]

So this will require a "forced switch" to the "correct block chain", but who exactly has the power to do this?

[JoelKatz]

what happens to users who do not upgrade?

They cannot use Bitcoin anymore. If you're going to run a Bitcoin client, you have to keep it up to date and follow announcements. Otherwise, all kinds of terrible things can happen.

and if bitcoin requires such drastic hand holding shouldn't this be programmed into the client? some type of ksplice like update?

It is vital that the decision to make this kind of change in the Bitcoin protocol be consciously made. What if the next change is to keep the block reward at 25 bitcoins forever? How easy do you want that to be?

[fcmatt]

This will blast all over tech sites tmr.

This will have consequences on the price. Negatively i bet.

On the bright side many people cannot even sell their coins so the price is not going down as quick as it could have. :-)

[sgravina]

I shut off my miners and now the house is getting cold.  I haven't used the furnace in over a year.  I hope it still works.

[WhitePhantom]

BTCGuild is switching to 0.7, so the old chain will get a majority hash rate soon.

I've switched to BTCGuild for the moment.  Will switch back to BitMinter once DrHaribo confirms that the pool has reverted to 0.7.

[bitpop]

will downgrading redownload the entire chain? because wasnt the old db converted?

[Herodes]

I stand corrected. I thought there were more than 10k nodes worldwide.

Edit: On a side note, that's pretty unsettling. This currency is supposed to play a world-wide role and only 10k computers have the bitcoin program running? 

I think there's more pc's in a 24 hour window running it, not all pc's are on 24/7.

[HappMacDonald]

will downgrading redownload the entire chain? because wasnt the old db converted?

Just for everyone in the audience: Wallet users do not have to downgrade, this is just for the miners.

For the miners: that's not a bad question. :?

[DoomDumas]

PANIC SELL!!

Price has just dropped to $30...

Im buying at $29  

On which exchange?

He's bullshitting. There really isn't a big issue. In fact, I usually don't upgrade my software until there are other versions out after the one I upgrade to, so that I can avoid any issues like this. So everyone just relax.

I think older version mining had the bug !

[joecooin]

[nelisky]

BTCGuild is switching to 0.7, so the old chain will get a majority hash rate soon.

I've switched to BTCGuild for the moment.  Will switch back to BitMinter once DrHaribo confirms that the pool has reverted to 0.7.

Doc has confirmed, but something wasn't working and he is fixing it, I believe. So it is 0.7 but is currently down.

[bitpop]

Why? I want to help. I have a 24/7 server. And I do have a p2pool public node running off it.

will downgrading redownload the entire chain? because wasnt the old db converted?

Just for everyone in the audience: Wallet users do not have to downgrade, this is just for the miners.

For the miners: that's not a bad question. :?

[whitenight639]

So let me get this right,

IF we'd all upgrade to .08 then the blocksize restriction would have been lifted, but because not many did we now have a fork and because the 0.7 blockchain is longer we should revert to that until a proper upgrade path to 0.8 is made available?

so is 0.8 inherently flawed, I thought there was a consensus that the blocksize should be lifted? I think this is very poor

 A simple retards guide summing up key points for and against blocksize restriction or lifting should have been stickied in the forum for some time and a poll taken by everybody not just miners, devs and long time posters.

An upgrade should have been built and tested on an isolated blockchain if that is possible,

A announcement about the upcoming availability of the upgrade should have been stickied referring to the poll results and post aforementioned,

A target date and block number should have been specified and downloads of the new client should have been made available along with an "alert£"

Some time before the specified date / block another last chance alert should hav been issued, anyone not upgrading after the date / block should have been left in the dust.

[bitpop]

What defines a miner? Someone solo mining? What about p2pool?
Why aren't wallets effected?

[cypherdoc]

I made a purchase yesterday through localbitcoins.com before this all went down. I had that transferred to one of my blockchain wallets. It has at this point over 70 confirmations - is this entire transaction safe? I'm very new to this and I think I picked  abad day to buy my first BTC  

Perfectly safe.

my friend just made his first purchase around 2pm PST today with 0.8.  Is he safe?