Is Arweave getting forked? Arweave founder tells you what happened

By Sam Williams, founder of Arweave; Translator:Golden Financexiaozou

We heard this news this week: Irys is planning a forkArweave。

Permanent storage requires forking, which is essential for long-term resiliency. The fork against Arweave has a way of staying true to established rules and an anti-rule approach (unfortunately Irys is pursuing this approach).

Let's see what happened.

Key content:

· Irys is considering forking Arweave. Seemingly motivated by greed, they plan to delete the data set to reset the token supply because users trust Irys to upload their data to Arweave.

· There is an established mechanism in the network, called protocol evolution, which supports network forking and upgrading in a secure manner. And this mechanism is being ignored.

· Athttps://up.arweave.netThere is a new 100% IRYS-compatible, completely free Bundler, which can finally solve the problems faced by Arweave users. Just replace your IRYS node URL with this URL and use it.

· In light of this situation, the AR.io network plans to remove IRYS Bundler from the trusted set of Arweave's main gateway. This will cause a significant delay for users before the data is viewable.

backgrounds

Forks are an important part of blockchain governance, allowing the community to try different methods to solve problems together.

However, for a permanent storage network, forking needs to be done the right way: save the state and build based on the state rather than destroy it. When the fork is done in this correct way, it will support the network's self-optimization, avoid such problems over time, and maintain the security of the data set. If forking isn't done the right way, information persistence won't be possible — because all data will be deleted on a regular basis.

To facilitate the smooth development of the Arweave Protocol through forking, our ecosystem has created an evolutionary protocol guide. You can think of them as the social structure of a blockchain network.

Arweave Protocol Development Rules

In a nutshell, the rules of the forked system are as follows:

(1) Anyone can create a fork at any time.

(2) The fork should continue the network's data set and token supply.

(3) The fork can also mint any number of new tokens to reward builders.

This system allows forks to compete and improve agreements in a way that is loyal to established rules: while keeping data sets secure, they create a marketplace for innovative ideas, and innovators are rewarded. It also allows token holders to accumulate a basket of tokens across a set of branches in the network, or actively trade tokens if token holders think which branch is preferable. It's a win-win situation for everyone.

So what is an Irys branch?

We know from reliable sources that Irys is planning to fork Arweave. However, despite the existence of the Arweave development framework, they are not planning to maintain the data set, but rather start the token supply from scratch.

When asked why, they said they didn't want to support existing data...”. Other than greed, it's hard for us to find a reason other than greed.

Let's not talk about our ecologically vulgar side, but this practice is really short-sighted and even hindered their own permanent storage project. If the data set and token supply are constantly being reset, then no fork can successfully complete long-term tasks.

We still want them to see the bright side and decide to build their fork the right way. If their explorations are beneficial to the ecology, we would love to talk to them and support their approach.

How can Irys users avoid this farce?

Irys can stop uploading your data to Arweave at any time. Fortunately, switching bundlers is pretty simple and will solve all the problems for our entire ecosystem. Forward Research is currently running a free (100% subsidized) Arweave bundling (bundling) service thanks to the excellent support and service of the ar.io network. We will keep this service running during the foreseeable phase of user migration. Both the AR.IO network and Jason Brady will provide excellent managed bundling services in the long run. Alternatively, you can enable your own bundler for your app.

To switch to the free Arweave bundler, simply convert the irys node URL in your code toup.arweave.net。

IRYS is currently part of a set of trusted bundlers that allow their content to be presented “optimistically” (optimistically) on the Arweave ecosystem's main gateway before putting the content on the chain. This system requires trust that data will eventually be uploaded to Arweave. Trust is now lost. Therefore, an optimal cache of IRYS data will be maintained on the AR.io networkhttp://arweave.netImmediately disabled on associated gateways. As a result, content uploaded through Irys has a significant delay (around 20 minutes to an hour) before the data can be viewed.

If you're an Irys user and want to avoid this farce by migrating, ar.io Network and we can support you right away.