This is a quick update to let you know that the uPort team is switching test networks from Ropsten to Rinkeby. By and large this won’t affect you, other than that new uPort identities will be created on Rinkeby, including app identities on AppManager. Below we have outlined some context for the switch and what this means for you.
Background
As many of you have encountered in the past weeks, Ropsten has become more and more unreliable, due to the fact that there is very little cost to attacking a proof-of-work test network. Since there is no monetary value on a testnet the amount of mining power on the network is quite low. Thus we’ve seen certain participants on Ropsten use a modest amount of compute power to launch spam attacks and selfish mining attacks, significantly impacting the reliability of the network for everyone.
Rinkeby is a “Proof-of-Authority” network, which means that blocks are signed by well-known trusted community members. This prevents attackers from taking over the mining power on the network. In order to get Rinkeby Ether from the faucet at Rinkeby.io you need to connect your Github account to your Ethereum address. This helps to mitigate nefarious elements draining the faucet or collecting lots of Ether to attack the network.
What it means for you as a developer
Developer Libraries
Whenever you create a new identity using the uPort Mobile App, the identity will be created on the Rinkeby network. The uport-js and uport-connect libraries will be updated to use Rinkeby by default, but you can also set the network explicitly using the setting `’network’ : ‘rinkeby’` in uport-js and uport-connect.
AppManager
AppManager has been updated to use Rinkeby by default. The usage should be the same, except in the background it will create Rinkeby identities for your apps. Your old Ropsten apps will continue to work as usual, but it may be more complicated to update them due to the network issues. So you may want to create a new one on Rinkeby instead.
In case of any issues
As always, if you have any problems with the switch, feel free to reach out to us at our Gitter channel at gitter.im/uport-project/Lobby.
