The Ethereum network will undergo a scheduled upgrade in block number 13,773,000which is expected to occur Wednesday, December 8, 2021. The exact date is subject to change due to variable times and time zones. Please upgrade your node before Sunday, December 5, 2021 to account for variable block times.
What is Arrow Glacier?
The Arrow Glacier network update, similar to muir glacier, it changes the parameters of Ice Age/Difficulty Bomb, setting it back several months. This has also been done in Byzantium, Constantinople and London network updates. No other changes are introduced as part of Arrow Glacier.
The difficulty bomb only affects proof-of-work networks and therefore only exists on the Ethereum mainnet and Ropsten testnet. With the recent progress Towards the transition from Ethereum to Proof of Stake, it was decided to just delay the mainnet bomb for now and try to run the Proof of Stake transition on Ropsten before the mainnet bomb goes off.
For more on Arrow Glacier and the history of the difficulty bomb, check out Ethereum Cat Herders’ explanatory blog post.
client versions
To be compatible with the Arrow Glacier upgrade, node operators will need to upgrade the version of the client they are running to one of the following:
Note: OpenEthereum, which was announced as deprecated earlier this yearhas released support for Arrow Glacier with version number 3.3.0-rc.14, which you can download here.
For now, we still recommend following the deprecation warnings above and selecting alternative client software. If you choose to use OE for your Arrow Glacir update, be careful and independently review the codebase changes before running it in production.
Upgrade Specification and EIP
The full specification for the upgrade can be found in the execution specifications repository here.
Only one EIP is included in the update: EIP-4345: Delay of the difficulty bomb until June 2022.
As an Ethereum user or Ethereum holder, is there anything I need to do?
If you use an exchange, web wallet service, mobile wallet service, or hardware wallet, you don’t need to do anything unless your wallet or exchange service tells you to take additional steps.
As a miner or node operator, what should I do?
Download the latest version of your Ethereum client, as indicated in the table above.
What happens if I am a miner or node operator and I don’t participate in the upgrade?
If you are using an Ethereum client that is not updated to the latest version (mentioned above), your client will sync with the pre-fork blockchain once the update occurs. You will be stuck in an incompatible chain following the above rules and will not be able to send Ether or trade on the Ethereum network post-update.
What is a network upgrade in Ethereum-land?
A network upgrade is a change to the underlying Ethereum protocol, which creates new rules to improve the system. The decentralized nature of blockchain systems makes upgrading the network more difficult. Network upgrades on a blockchain require cooperation and communication with the community as well as the developers of the various Ethereum clients in order for the transition to go smoothly.
What happens during a network update?
Once the community agrees on what changes should be included in the update, the protocol changes are written to the various Ethereum clients such as geth, Erigon, Besu, and Nethermind. Protocol changes are triggered on a specific block number. Any nodes that have not updated to the new rule set will be left in the old chain where the old rules will still exist.
Why “Arrow Glacier”?
While we’ve been using Devcon names for network updates recently, when we previously had an update that just rolled back the bombshell, we decided to change the nomenclature. To highlight the nature of the update (rolling back the “Ice Age”), we chose a glacier name, hence Muir Glacier.
This update follows a similar pattern. With the transition to Proof of Stake on the horizon, a retreating glacier was chosen, hence Arrow Glacier 🏔!
Thanks!
A big thank you to the Ethereum community and all Ethereum developers across all clients and platforms coming together to provide input, thoughts and contributions. This could be the last network upgrade on Ethereum before the transition to Proof of Stake. Go!
Also, many thanks to Harshil Gudka for the cover image.
It is an emerging and highly technical evolving space. If you choose to implement the recommendations in this post and continue to participate, you should make sure you understand how it affects you. You should understand that there are risks involved, including, but not limited to, risks such as unexpected errors. By choosing to implement these recommendations, you alone assume the risks of the consequences. This publication and recommendations are not a sale of any kind and do not create warranties of any kind, including but not limited to anything related to the Ethereum network or the Ethereum clients referenced in this document.
