What is happeningIf you are using Bitcoin-Qt/bitcoind version 0.7.2 or earlier, you must take action before 15 May, 2013. If you do nothing, you are likely to be left behind and will be out of sync with the rest of the Bitcoin network.
We recommend that you
upgrade to version 0.8.1 before the 15th of May to avoid any issues. If you are a solo miner or mining pool operator, please see the the notes at the end of this page for how to upgrade safely.
If you cannot upgrade to version 0.8.1If you cannot upgrade to the latest version, you can still avoid the problem. Create a file called DB_CONFIG in the bitcoin data directory, containing these two lines:
set_lg_dir database
set_lk_max_locks 50000
if you need help finding the bitcoin data directory.
Miners/mining pool operatorsIf you are creating new blocks (you are a solo miner or mining pool operator), then you should be aware that upgrading from 0.7 to 0.8 requires a lengthy re-indexing operation; you
must wait for the reindex to complete before serving work to miners.
And if you are creating blocks and cannot upgrade to version 0.8.1 for some reason, you should
not set_lk_max_locks in a DB_CONFIG file until May 15th; if you increase locks before then you run the risk of creating or building on blocks incompatible with the rest of the network.
Why this is necessaryA bug caused a
temporary block chain fork on 11 March, 2013. After investigating that bug, we determined that the bug can happen even if the entire network was still running old versions of Bitcoin-Qt/bitcoind. Therefore, the only option is to require everybody to either upgrade or workaround the bug.
