Testnet

Posted by: mandica - Posted on: 

We are running Spectre testnet nodes to quickly test and assess new code and updates.
We have welcomed a new developer to the team, @helix, to work on build automation.
We are working on establishing business links and academic connections.
We have completed the code for Spectre v.2. and it's running on testnet.

Spectre Testnet

We have a lot of exciting ideas and technology on the horizon for Spectre and it was becoming a necessity to be able to test new code before release. The new updates for Spectre v.2 for example are crucial and it is extremely important that this software update is safe and that it works as it is intended. We therefore made the decision that we needed to have Spectre testnet nodes up and running to be able to quickly test new code before release. This has therefore taken priority over the last 2 weeks and it has taken a lot of time and testing to get right. We have now successfully set up a Spectre testnet and we are running Spectre v.2 as I am writing this newsletter. The testnet parameters are set such that the network runs at a shorter block time and certain other parameters that allows faster testing. We are aiming to set up a permanent testnet(s) and explorer and we want you to contribute and run testnet nodes when this will be available. The current testnet is running from the ‘develop‘ branch on our GitHub repo and you can build yourself and join the testnet if you wish or download the Windows binary from the below link:

https://github.com/spectrecoin/spectre/releases/tag/v2.0.0

Please, just contact me (@mandica) on Discord to get some testnet coins to stake and play with. We would like serious beta testers to test as well and do a bug hunt for some small rewards. Again, contact me. The total supply on the testnet is 100,000 testcoins.

Automatic Builds

We have welcomed a new developer to the team, @helix, to work on build automation. @helix is an expert in setting up automated build systems for software and he is currently working on cleaning up the Spectre build processes and setting up automatic builds using Docker. This means that when we release new code in the future we will be able to quickly release binaries for multiple platforms and we will get constant build quality. In respect of this we are also streamlining and optimising our GitHub repo for future development.

We have created a new permanent ‘develop‘ branch and this branch will be the basis for any further development, whereas the actual coding and development will be done on feature-branches, which are branches derived from the ‘develop‘ branch. Then, if a feature is finished, it will be merged back into ‘develop‘ and the feature-branch could be removed. If all features for a new release are finished, i.e. they are on the ‘develop‘ branch, then the ‘develop‘ branch will be merged to the ‘master‘ branch and the ‘master‘ branch will be tagged and the release will be built from this tag automatically.
This brings several advantages to Spectre development; The ‘master‘ branch contains only released content, no intermediate stuff, no hacks or whatever else. The ‘develop‘ branch is always “ready to release”, because only completed features will be merged back to the ‘develop‘ branch. We can have as many feature-branches as we need and we do not touch the ‘master‘ or ‘develop‘ content until the feature-branches are finished and merged back. The continuous integration build is based on Docker and the continuous integration build produces a ready to use Docker image and ci-build of installable packages is under development.
The end result of this process will be automatic building of new Spectre binaries for multiple platforms when we push new code updates to the Spectre ‘master‘ branch. Efficient and neat!

In Other News

We are still working to attract interested parties from the academic community and other professionals and we hope that the automation and cleanup of out GitHub repo will contribute to that. Rest assured that things are happening in the background and that we will inform the community as soon as anything interesting occurs.

The white paper is coming along and might be given a first release with the next newsletter.

The stealth staking concept has been formed and we have had various discussions about this between ourselves but the code for v.2 and the testnet has taken priority over the last 2 weeks. When we have released v.2 we can commit to coding and testing the stealth staking feature.

That is it for this time but we expect more around the Spectre v.2 update in the next issue and also a deadline for the mandatory update!

The next newsletter will be published in week 31 (30/07 to 05/08)
Useful links:
Discord: https://discord.gg/ckkrb8m
Bitcointalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4434053.0
Cryptopia: https://www.cryptopia.co.nz/Exchange/?market=XSPEC_BTC 
Livecoin: https://www.livecoin.net/en/trade/index?currencyPair=XSPEC%2FBTC
Twitter (official): https://twitter.com/SpectreCash
Twitter (official): https://twitter.com/XspecRising
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