Hello Grinners!
It’s been a looong time since I’ve given any Grin++ updates here, so I figure we’re a bit overdue. I have a few important announcements to make that you may be interested in.
Announcement #1 (New UI Designer)
I have finally fired our terrible UI designer! If you’re thinking to yourself, “Wait, weren’t you the UI designer?”…You would be correct. I’ve never been skilled at UI design, and it seems clear from past Grin++ versions that I suck at it, and am just never going to cut it (After all, I’m the same guy that once designed this monstrosity: https://global.discourse-cdn.com/standard10/uploads/grin/original/2X/8/8c90cbb0bfd31662995b2f964b1a873bef39ff18.png).
So without further ado, I would like to introduce you to the new lead UI developer for Grin++:
David has spent the past few months completely rewriting the Grin++ UI. It’s still an electron app, but all of the code was rewritten in typescript using more modern frameworks, design patterns, and even some tests (wtf are those?). With him taking over the UI tasks, I’ve had more time to focus on the node and backend wallet logic. It’s now more stable than ever, with lots of great technical improvements that none of you probably care about, so I won’t bore you with the details.
This leads us to…
Announcement #2 (v1.0.0 Release)
We have just released Grin++ v1.0.0!
Just over a year after the first hurriedly-written (aka. half-assed), windows-only, cross-your-fingers-when-you-use-it, pre-pre-pre-alpha version of Grin++ was released, we’ve finally reached a point where the code is secure, stable, reliable, and well-tested. Grin++ is no longer betaware. v1.0.0 is the first stable release of Grin++, meaning we will strive hard to ensure backward-compatibility of all APIs, database schemas, config settings, etc. in all future releases.
And just look how sexy v1.0.0 is. I’m doxxing my entire net worth and transaction history just to show you how good this app looks in the wild.
In addition to all of the great features from previous versions, v1.0.0 includes:
- Multi-language support for those who prefer German, Russian, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, or Turkish (let us know if there’s any you think we should add)
- Better UI support for customizing settings like number of peers, minimum confirmations, GrinJoin servers, etc.
- Drag ‘n’ drop support for receiving by file
- Ability to filter transactions by status
- More accessible logs for easier troubleshooting
- Important stability and security fixes, including the fix for CVE-2020-12439
- Greater portability for older hardware or operating systems that struggled with Grin++ or TOR
- And so on and so forth…
And there’s a whole lot more planned for the near future! (cough mobile support cough)
Announcement #3 (Audit Results)
Some time ago, the Grin, Beam, and LTC communities all worked together to fund a security audit of the C++ codebase. As promised, the security audit took place (performed by SmartDec), and the codebase is in so much nicer shape than before.
Putting code through an audit was a completely new experience for me, so I learned a ton from it. In addition to searching for security vulnerabilities, SmartDec offered dozens of tips and guidelines for improving the stability and safety of the code, and I worked diligently to apply as many of them as possible. Once again, I’ll skip the boring technical details, but suffice it to say that a lot of good came from the audit, and I have all of you to thank for making that happen!
While the fixes for the issues found were all applied many months ago, I’m a serial procrastinator, so am just now getting around to releasing the results. My apologies for the months-long delay.
Announcement #4 (Website Redesigned)
If you made it this far into this long-winded byproduct of alcoholism, then you must be reeallllyy interested in Grin++. The good news for you is we have a new, improved website where you can read all about it! Once again, @davidtavarez is the badass who created it. Everyone should thank him for his hard work by buying him a beer or 10.
In theory, Grin++ Just Works™, but for those of you who live in the real world, where theory often doesn’t match up with reality, we’re always around to help in Telegram at https://t.me/GrinPP
Sorry about the long post, but thanks so much for the 3 of you that read the whole thing. Never forget that when You grinnin’, You winnin’
Have a jolly weekend!
