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Firedancer v26.10.2 is mainnet-ready, and the switch runs on Agave

Firedancer v26.10.2 is mainnet-ready and supports Alpenglow. The TowerBFT switch is not supported and runs on Agave.

SOLANA·HUB Editorial
Source: Firedancer

Release v26.10.2

Firedancer has published version v26.10.2. The release notes call it a mainnet-ready release. It supports Alpenglow. Migration from TowerBFT to Alpenglow is not supported in this release.

The release is dated 14 October. Alpenglow is on in the default testnet and devnet configs, through [consensus] alpenglow = true. Every Solana 4.3 feature is included.

Move to Agave before the switch

On its upgrade page, the Solana Foundation writes that Firedancer and Frankendancer are not supported during the migration. Before epoch 1064, a validator needs a client built on Agave 4.3.0. The Foundation names Agave, Jito-Solana, and Harmonic Salsa. The date is in the epoch 1064 report.

While it runs, this release can write a vote-history file that Agave can read, for Tower or for Alpenglow. The path is paths.vote_history. On set-identity, --vote-history-file requires that file. The new command is firedancer wait. It blocks until the validator reaches a state where a failover or an exit is safe.

Admin commands from v26.9.x binaries no longer match this release. The notes do not set a date for running Firedancer again after the switch.

Memory and snapshots

Mainnet memory use drops from 183 to 159 GiB. A mainnet snapshot loads in 40 seconds. The notes replace OpenSSL with a TLS stack of their own. A cold compile then takes under three seconds.

An experimental mode cuts CPU use, [layout] mode = "efficient". Tiles sleep in the kernel instead of spinning the cores. The notes do not recommend the mode for production. Firedancer can also serve as an entrypoint for Agave validators.

Note: This is reporting, not investment advice.

What to watch

  • Whether validators move to Agave, Jito-Solana, or Harmonic Salsa before epoch 1064
  • When the release notes describe running Firedancer after the switch
  • Whether “efficient” mode is later recommended for production

Sources

#firedancer #alpenglow #validator #agave

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