MaidSafe Dev Update :safe: 1st March 2016

So, first update post test network, SAFE Launcher and SAFE Demo App release and to say it has been a whirlwind would be quite an understatement - the response has been amazing! Since Friday the testnet has seen:

Total downloads of SAFE Launcher from Github directly: 1126
Total client sessions: 8119 (includes registered and unregistered clients)
Total get requests made: 350842

We’ve had a lot of very useful feedback and for that we are grateful to everyone that has taken time to provide it. Apologies for not acknowledging everyone yet, it’s great that we have such an engaged community, we are currently collating the feedback and are using it to help shape the next iterations to be released.

Work has begun to improve the logging framework of the test networks during these rolling release phases; this will provide the team with even more useful data to analyse. We will be collecting data and sharing it - only during the test phase - the full list of what we are planning on collecting has yet to be finalised. For full transparency we shall outline this very clearly before every roll-out; if you have privacy concerns it may be better waiting until this phase has been completed.

With regards to the MVP status, the team are still working on the one last outstanding TODO.

  1. NAT Traversal integration into Crust (allows for people behind different types of routers to connect with each other and not just rely on direct connections between nodes in the network);

##Crust - uTP / API : Vinicius / Andrew / David

The main focus for the team is still on closing out the tasks associated with the outstanding TODO (above), with uTP testing and bug fixing ongoing. The Crust guys have also been working on enabling UDP rendezvous connect. This is a particular connection type where both ends try to connect at the same time (approx) and forces hole punching to hopefully succeed. In essence this is a large part of getting vaults to work from everyone’s home and office, without manually port mapping a router or buying a direct internet connection. The initial implementation of TCP hole punching is now also ready for testing.

There is a paper that has shown a small change to these processes can give 100% nat_traversal over symmetric Nat devices. Thls will be added in parallel and if successful allows a ton of logic and code to be removed from Routing, where we jump through hoops to get nodes connected, using a huge number of network messages. So great news and all with very little effort.

##Routing - Vault Integration : Andreas / Brian / David

Most of the work in Routing in the past few days has been preparation for last week’s test release and some last minute fixes. Routing now also indicates to the upper layers if it gets disconnected from the network.
Next, we will focus on stabilisation and on proper handling of joining and leaving nodes, as well as some cleanup within the code.

##Vaults : Adam / Fraser / Qi

The droplet testnet shows vaults running reasonably stable in handling requests from sample apps in launcher. The current priority of vaults is to test and further implement churn handling capability. CI tests have been heavily updated to provide a certain standard of churn simulation as part of the testing environment. The debugging work that has been carried out so far has spotted a couple of bugs.

##Client - Launcher : Krishna / Spandan / Shankar

The current client focus is on fixing the issues with the SAFE Launcher and SAFE demo application. @ustulation (welcome back Spandan!) has resumed work and he is trying to get the network callbacks propagated to the upper layers. We expect that this will bring more stability to the Client libraries. @krishna_kumar and @Shankar have been improving the SAFE Launcher and demo application by fixing the known limitations and identified issues.

We expect that the callbacks will be integrated into the safe_core library within the next couple of days. Once that is completed, the Launcher will have to integrate the changes being made in the safe_core library for listening to the network event and act accordingly. We hope that this change will bring more stability to the applications and also resolve a few issues which are related to the network event handling.

##Development roadmap : Scott / Shankar

During the main website update we found that our (then) current implementation of the roadmap didn’t adequately communicate the features we were working on. We began to think of how we could improve on this and one area of focus was making sure people new to the project could follow the roadmap to some degree. However, it was also key that the design did not only cater for those new to the project, it was important that dedicated followers could also drill down and get much more information and detail. To do this we designed an interactive approach inspired by Gantt charts, where users could navigate down into features to see more detail. Work on implementing this design began over Christmas and New Year and a first draft of this was completed in January, though it has taken a bit of a back seat during February when we concentrated efforts on the testnet. This week we are focusing again on reviewing and fixing these issues.

##UI Design : Scott

Last week a lot of work was done in frontend on the Launcher and demo app UIs. Now, following the test release, work has begun on revising some of the Launcher UX, based on user feedback and observations and this work will continue this week and as the test network progresses.

##Customer Support : Ross

As with the network itself, customer support i.e. how we at MaidSafe respond to feedback from the community, will evolve and improve as the platform matures. So bugs, requests for technical assistance, feature requests, etc need to be collected, understood and dealt with efficiently, or if required converted into tasks for the Dev team. We are currently trialling JIRA Service Desk to do this; it seemed like a natural choice as we already use JIRA Core, so integrating both systems was already done. We have identified a couple of issues that we are currently trying to work around, however the main one is that folk need a login and even then can only see issues they have raised themselves from the customer portal, rather than the ability to view all issues. So we may have to rethink this strategy to make this much more transparent and community focused. We would like to thank everyone in the community for taking time to ask and answer questions, folks helping each other out is beautiful to watch. A special mention to all the forum mods who are doing a great job especially with the increased activity: your efforts are very much appreciated by everyone here at MaidSafe.


On Friday the roll-out of the SAFE Network testing began, the genie is out of the bottle and it is all very real now. Our focus is still very much on delivering the MVP and allowing folks to run vaults from wherever they wish, the fun has just begun…

Thanks again for the ongoing support, here is a link to the transcript.

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Ross: Just a tremendous update. NAT Traversal integration into Crust progress and possible new development that will reduce the code is really exciting. Thanks

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I have tested it (badass.safenet) and it is really beautiful for a test version. Everything went smooth and clean with install and making a website was done in just one (!) click.

I don’t understand the fuzz about ETH while MAID has shown that it is a very good project already.

Keep on going…i’m watching this closely.

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Ahh… when the media mentions microsoft and MAIDSAFE in the same sentence you’ll see the same rocket fuel that is propelling eth under the MAID chassis. TBH i dont get the valuation either… but back in 1996 if you put www in front of your corporate name somebody would cut you a cheque for $1M without asking because if they asked, they wouldnt understand the answer.

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Thanks for the update & keep up the good work
:stuck_out_tongue:

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Good stuff!

It’s going to be an agonising wait for alpha, now that we’re so close I’m thinking about it constantly.

I wish I were more technical so I could jump in and help out somehow. I haven’t even had any buggy issues to report apart from having to log back out and in periodically. :frowning: Not that I have done a huge amount of playing yet.

I’m looking forward to all the upgrades we’ll see as it progresses… greedy boy wants more! :wink:

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Great update! Vaults, safecoin, installers they just can’t come soon enough!!! So flipping stoked about the fact the network is in testing phase. To think data is churning somewhere and holes will soon be punched gets me all sorts of excited

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…hmmm… yes - seeing what issues already have been reported would prevent multiple reports - i think making this more transparent is a good idea =)

I love our safe network :heart_eyes: i wish i wasn’t that busy lately (and the following month …)

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The number of posts on this thread is relatively sparse. I wonder why…? Cuz… WE’RE TINKERING THAT’S WHY!!! :grinning:

MAKING PAGES, GETTING AROUND THE 1MB LIMIT, SOLVING PROBLEMS, IDENTIFYING BUGS, AND VISUALIZING THE FUTURE!!! :laughing:

:smile: :smiley: :grin: :relaxed: :slightly_smiling: We really did need this MVP to sooth our souls. Just being able to mess with what was once just a concept is reassuring. The vaporware argument has been evaporated ( :wink: ), the question of network speed is less speculative (we have some evidence), and data retention/redundancy is proven somewhat.

Couple this with an effective roadmap and we have peace of mind IMHO. I’m very excited for the future. :joy:

Stay strong and keep pushing forward.

The community will be here to back the team up in any way we can! :sunglasses:

As always welcome back @ustulation .

I continue to wish great happiness for you and your loving wife. :v: :smiley:

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Whilst your tinkering, remember to keep up your intake of :tomato: :eggplant: :corn: :grapes: :watermelon: :tangerine: :lemon: :pineapple: :apple: :green_apple: :pear: :peach: :cherries: :strawberry:

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Mmmmm, polyphenols, minerals, and fiber. I just farted with content at the very notion. :blush:

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Thanks so much for the update. Please remember to include the following tasks in your task list:

  1. Minimum 30 second stretch break every 15 minutes.
  2. Minimum 7 hours of sleep each night.
  3. One day off per week.
  4. Lots of frolicking with the opposite sex.
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How about we change number four to “Lots of frolicking with another person”?

Can someone point out the post that stated the number of new users on the forum this week and how many users registered on the SAFE Network? I’ve looked and looked but am unable to locate it. Thanks.

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When can we expect our next upgrade to the MVP?

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Yes directive 4 needs rephrasing. Good catch.

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Remember this is pre-MVP testing. They are adding features approx once a week, maybe slightly longer. David said before that vaults might be 2-3 weeks. When all this pre-MVP testing is done then we should have the MVP

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Thank you!!!

Sorry for all the exclamation points but that 20 character minimum…

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Okay so it’s technically not the MVP. Well at least I wasn’t calling it the new app thingimagig wooziwhatzit. lol

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Thanks for update, when using the SAFE Network Client Testing demo, i creat a public id, does this id is temperary and will be distroy when the MVP or alpha release roll out?

The expectation is yes. The network at this stage will go through iterations and may get nuked each time.

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