Introduction to Protocol Upgrades
Introduction to Protocol Upgrades
Pocket Network is continuously evolving through regular protocol upgrades. We implement software upgrades via a DAO process, allowing validator nodes to incorporate consensus-breaking changes. These upgrades can be automatically applied when using Cosmovisor, or manually if not using cosmovisor.
What is a Protocol Upgrade?
A protocol upgrade is a process of updating Pocket Network software to introduce new features, improve existing functionalities, or address critical issues. These upgrades ensure the network remains secure, efficient, and up-to-date with the latest technological advancements.
Not every GitHub release will become a protocol upgrade.
List of Upgrades
While you can find a comprehensive list of pocket releases on our GitHub, we also maintain a list of upgrades in our documentation. This list provides valuable information, including whether an upgrade involves breaking changes and if manual intervention is required from operators.
Upgrade Types
Planned vs. Unplanned Upgrades
Planned upgrades are those that our team has been developing for some time and have been announced in advance. These typically include new features, improvements to existing functionalities, or optimizations.
Unplanned upgrades may occur at any time without prior notice. These are often necessary due to unforeseen circumstances such as bugs, security issues, chain halts, or network congestion when no other mitigation is possible. Such upgrades may require manual intervention from users and/or validators, potentially resulting in a hard fork.
Breaking vs. Non-breaking Upgrades
Breaking changes are those that may affect existing APIs, State Machine logic, or other critical components. They usually require some form of migration process for network participants. Our protocol team strives to minimize the need for manual interventions in these cases.
Non-breaking changes do not have such implications and can be applied without significant disruption to the current state of the system.
Manual Interventions
While the risk is low, it's possible that the blockchain may encounter unexpected issues. In situations where forking the network becomes necessary (such as in cases of non-deterministic chain state), we will issue an upgrade notice requiring manual intervention from users and/or validators to ensure the network's health and integrity.