CKB Mainnet Lina: Q&A

1. What is the exact timing for switching from Testnet to Mainnet?

CKB Testnet Rylai will automatically terminate when the end of epoch 89 is reached. Mainnet will be deployed at the end of epoch 89, as it transitions to epoch 90 — which will officially be epoch 0 of mainnet.

Nervos CKB v0.25.0-p1 (a patch for previous v0.25.0) has been released so please update — once the end of epoch 89 is reached and the Genesis block is verified, CKB v0.25.1 (Mainnet Lina) will be officially launched.

Due to the way NC-max is designed, epoch time varies with the overall hash-rate of the network, which makes predicting the exact launch time a challenge. At time of publishing, the estimated date and time is Nov 16th, 6am (UTC+8).

2. How will I know when Mainnet Launches?

There are 3 ways to track the testnet epochs and the launch of Mainnet Lina:

1. Join the CKB Dev Updates channel. Every 20 minutes an update on Epoch and time remaining is automatically posted.
2. You can refer to the latest block’s info from CKB-Explorer (click on the most recent block’s link in the “Height” column).

3. You can refer to the Genesis Block Generator for the latest countdown information.

$ cd ckb-gbg_v1.0.3_x86_64-apple-darwin
$ ./ckb-gbg
  
>Lina is not ready yet. Please wait for the 11st block in epoch 90.
Estimated remaining time: 3 days 14h25m01s
Estimated launch time: 2019-11-16 06:29:30.001825 +08:00

In addition, we will release an announcement on Medium and through our social channels immediately after Mainnet — v0.25.1 — launches.

3. How do I use Genesis Block Generator?

We hope to provide everyone with a verifiable method to generate a singular (i.e. one and only) genesis block and use it as a basis for getting connected with other nodes and for launching the Common Knowledge Base decentralized network. As of today, the Nervos Foundation has open-sourced the Genesis Block Generator on Github. A user’s guide was published in this README.

Please note that there are two ways to launch mainnet “Lina”

Option 1: Use Genesis Block Generator with Nervos CKB v0.25.0-p1 to launch

1. Run a v0.24.0 node connecting to testnet.
2. Run ckb-gbg to generate the chain spec for mainnet.
3. Stop the v0.24.0 node.
4. Use v0.25.0-p1 binary to init and start the mainnet node using the generated chain spec:

$ ckb init --import-spec /path/to/generated/lina.toml --chain mainnet
$ ckb run

Option 2: Launch directly via Nervos CKB v0.25.1 or later verison.

$ ckb init --chain mainnet
$ ckb run

Option 1 is recommended for people who would like to launch Lina as soon as the target epoch, i.e. the end of the 89th epoch is reached. This is because some time will be needed to build and deploy Nervos CKB — v0.25.1 — following the release of CKB v0.25.0-p1.

4. After CKB Mainnet launches, will there still be a testnet for testing purposes?

Yes, after CKB Mainnet Lina is live, a new testnet called Aggron will be deployed. Application developers will be able to use Aggron for testing purposes. More information to come as Aggron becomes available.

5. Will CKB Mainnet Lina mining difficulty be the same as Testnet Rylai’s?

No, CKB Mainnet Lina’s difficulty during the first epoch will be about 15 times the average difficulty of Testnet Rylai. Therefore, if the hashrate remains on par with that of testnet, mining time during the first epoch will increase, in other words the mining difficulty will be higher.

6. Will CKB Blockchain Explorer be updated?

CKB Blockchain Explorer will be updated as Lina launches. It may take up to 2 hours before you are able to access it for normal usage.

7. When will you release information on Mainnet token distribution?

Please stay tuned for information about CKB Mainnet token distribution in the upcoming days, including how to use the Neuron wallet to deposit CKBytes into the Nervos DAO.

8. When will the final results of the Testnet mining competition be released?

The third stage of the 5th round of mining competition will last until the end of the 89th epoch, at which point the mining competition will come to an end, along with CKB Testnet Rylai. We will publish the result of the entire mining competition, rounds 1–5, at mineyourownbusiness.nervos.org as soon as the data is available.

Thank you to our entire global community for your support and for building Nervos with us!