Maybe I’m misunderstanding something but it seems that fast catchup essentially makes Algorand a centralized blockchain. Because state snapshots are saved on Algornad’s servers…

It’s just a string representing the consensus version the code understands. That’s it… from goal node status: Last consensus protocol: https://github.com/algorandfoundation/specs/tree/3a83c4c743f8b17adfd73944b4319c25722a6782 Next consensus protocol: https://github.com/algorandfoundation/specs/t…

Following what @aojjazz wrote, everything is strongly linked together using signatures and hashes. In most cases, the signature(s) that you’ll find in a block are over a hash of the proposal, which is, in turn contains a hash of the block header, which contains a hash of the transactions. The bloc…

We are not talking about versions here. We are not talking about nodes that are outdated. What you are talking about is an internal mechanism which valid nodes use to make sure they are using the right version of consensus algorithm. We are talking about a node software that is designed by an adver…

Unbreakable perhaps at the cost of some centralization it seems. I’m talking about decentralized Deterministic/Reproducible builds. Is Algorand currently a Deterministic/Reproducible build? If it is that hash can be kept on chain in the form of a signature by the publisher. This way we can trust the…

[image] algorander: Who gets to control the official hash released into the blockchain, and wouldn’t that part of the process be centralized? Well… This is really a good point and I think you are right. Having those hashes in block headers is not a good idea. It could prevent the independent …

[image] aybehrouz: For example, my node will update itself only when it sees the special “update transaction” from Algorand foundation on the blockchain. This transaction also gives my node the download link and the hash of the new patch that should be applied. Brilliant! This is how all coin…

I believe that the current approach is that the protocol version ( which is a string ) points to a repository that describes the details of the protocol implementation ( i.e. pdfs ) . Any implementation of that said protocol should be able to join the network. Note that different builds would have …

[image] aybehrouz: Maybe a better idea could be that the official developers of any software sign the hashes of their software and put it on blockchain like a transaction. That’s not necessarily a bad idea, but could discourage other engineers trying to developer a better node implementation. …

[image] tsachi: I’m also not sure if the binary of a compiled binary is guaranteed to be bit-repeatable on consecutive builds. ( It wasn’t the case when a checked a .NET build a decade ago… might have changed since ). This is exactly what I was talking about, Deterministic/Reproducible builds…

You’re discussing specific compiler toolchain issues, having nothing to do whatsoever with Algorand, nor nodes, nor consensus mechanisms. It’s very common for things like timestamps to be embedded in builds as part of build tooling, fetch locations specific to local infra (internal mirrors for depe…

Does catch point saving make Algorand a centralized blockchain?

algorander January 15, 2021, 2:59am 32

This is exactly what I was talking about, Deterministic/Reproducible builds. Algorand must be bit-repeatable on every build to be taken 100% serious in the community.

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Does catch point saving make Algorand a centralized blockchain?

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