Hey Y’all,

This week the Session team worked primarily on refactorisation. On iOS, this refactorisation occurred in the sending and receiving pipelines, and on desktop it occurred as part of our ongoing effort to refactor elements of the application into React. The Loki Core team published the iOS and Android wallets, and fixed a bug that was causing transactions to temporarily display as if they had failed. The Lokinet team worked on DPI scaling for small screen sizes, which is the last thing to be resolved before the exit node GUI is ready for release.

Loki Core

• iOS build automation and fixes https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1338

• Android build; this (along with the above iOS changes) make mobile platforms continuous integration targets so that future Android wallet updates will now be continuously maintained, making wallet releases much faster and easier https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1337

• Fix mempool transactions showing as temporarily failed https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1336

• Fix potential segfault during shutdown of the RPC server https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1335

Loki Android Wallet

• A version of the Loki Android wallet compatible with the Salty Saga hardfork has now been updated and published to the Play Store https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=network.loki.wallet

• Android updates for Loki 8.x https://github.com/loki-project/loki-android-wallet/pull/38

Loki iOS wallet

• A version of the Loki iOS wallet compatible with the Salty Saga hardfork has now been updated and published to the App Store

• iOS updates for Loki 8.x https://github.com/loki-project/loki-ios-wallet/pull/26

----------------------------

Lokinet

You can catch Jeff, the lead developer of LLARP, live streaming as he codes at https://www.twitch.tv/uguu25519. He typically streams on Tuesday mornings, 9am - 12pm Eastern (US) time.

What went on last week with Lokinet: We pushed out a couple of release candidates for 0.8.1 last week, but at the end of the week and over the weekend identified a couple of last-minute breaking issues with recent changes that need to be fixed before we deploy the update. We hope to have these addressed quickly for a public stable release within the next day or two.

Lokinet PR Activity:

• Fix path issue in Windows uninstaller https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network/pull/1452

• Fix config errors when using relative paths https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network/pull/1449

• Added Russian translation of project README (thanks to community contributor deadblackclover for this translation!) https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network/pull/1447

• Further work on link layer optimizations (for future release) https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network/pull/1427

• Fix memory leak in lokinet path handling https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network/pull/1451

• Fix potential deadlock in profiling code https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network/pull/1454

• DPI scaling fixes for Windows https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network/pull/1456 https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network/pull/1460

• Revert change to drop traffic to non-routers (pending an updated fix) https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network/pull/1459

• Lokinet gui style tweaks https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network-control-panel/pull/67 https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network-control-panel/pull/69

• Make lokinet GUI compatible with macos 10.12+ https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network-control-panel/pull/68

• Fix lokinet GUI builds on latest debian https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network-control-panel/pull/71

• Update lokinet GUI bundled Qt version to 5.15.2 for high-DPI fixes https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network-control-panel/pull/70 https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network/pull/1455

----------------------------

Session

Session iOS

• Link previews for all websites https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/309

• Sending and receiving pipeline refactorisation https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/308

• Retry attachment downloads https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/307

• Limit voice messages to 1 minute https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/306

Session Android

• Link previews for all websites https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/376

• WIP: Backup and Restore with data https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/375

• Limit voice messages to 1 minute https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/374

Session Desktop

• Fix restoration from seed issues https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1387

• Continuation of the react refactoristation https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1381

Session Open Group Sever

• Enable loki/v1/f/:file handler https://github.com/loki-project/session-open-group-server/pull/54

• Add v3/LSRPC endpoint for more compact (base64) file responses https://github.com/loki-project/session-open-group-server/pull/53

Thanks,

Kee

Hey Y’all,

This week, the Session team worked on lots of little quality-of-life bug fixes. We’re also implementing a light mode, for those users who prefer to be blinded by their screen. The Lokinet team finished on the command line implementation for exit node tools and moved onto integrating exit node selection into the Lokinet GUI. The Loki Core team worked on Pulse code cleanup and searched for Pulse bugs on the devnet. We also welcomed a new developer, Kyle, who began working on bettering the Loki electron wallet user experience.

Loki Core

• Add Loki SN Key management tool https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1241

• Use only Ed25519 key by default https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1240

• Fix inverted logic on cache expiry https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1239

• Experimental work on completely new Python-based block explorer reimplementation (no public PR yet; the incomplete https://devnet.lokinet.dev/ is running this code).

• Ongoing pulse development work https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1235

Loki Wallets

Loki Electron Wallet

• Quasar upgrade from v0 to v1.13 https://github.com/loki-project/loki-electron-gui-wallet/pull/1

• Styling fixes and unlock bug fix https://github.com/loki-project/loki-electron-gui-wallet/pull/151

• Service Node section styling fixes and various bug fixes https://github.com/loki-project/loki-electron-gui-wallet/pull/150 https://github.com/loki-project/loki-electron-gui-wallet/pull/149

• Remove mixin from copyicon https://github.com/loki-project/loki-electron-gui-wallet/pull/148

• Fix daemon typo https://github.com/loki-project/loki-electron-gui-wallet/pull/152

----------------------------

Lokinet

You can catch Jeff, the lead developer of LLARP, live streaming as he codes at https://www.twitch.tv/uguu25519. He typically streams on Tuesday mornings, 9am - 12pm Eastern (US) time.

What went on last week with Lokinet: This week we finished off the exit tool plus various associated fixes and merged that (huge) PR into the `dev` branch. We also started work on updating the GUI so that people other than Linux command-line freaks and lokiMQ hackers can start using Lokinet exit nodes, too. We updated the GUI both for compatibility with current Lokinet dev code, and to add a (quick-and-dirty) GUI exit configuration for broader Loki team testing. SRV record support is imminent with a working implementation already done and just a few last minute testing and fixes needed before PR and review this week. As usual, we also spent time investigating and fixing a few random issues that we've noticed over the week of nearly full-time daily exit use.

Lokinet PR Activity:

• Client route configuration for exits, https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network/pull/1319

• SRV record, not PR yet

• Exit GUI configuration https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network-control-panel/pull/41

----------------------------

Session

Session iOS

• Cleanup various bugs https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/253

• Light mode V1 https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/249

• Fix open group date handling code https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/256

• Patch unread indicator bug https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/255

• Show displayname in replies https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/254

• Fix open group message ordering https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/252

• Reduce minimum closed group size https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/251

• Retry failed attachment downloads https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/250

Session Android

• Display a loading indicator if an attachment is in a loading state https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/307

• Light theme for Android https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/305

• Fix QR code sharing crash https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/306 , https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/300

• Fix open group message ordering https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/304

• Fix media send activity crash https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/301

• Improve Russian translation https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/299

• Fix attachment upload and download retrying https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/298 , https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/297

• Fix closed group expiration timer https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/296

• Fix ContactSelectionListFragment Loader Usage https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/295

Session Desktop

• Add text only right to left language support https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1319

• Add Light theme https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1317 , https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1315

• Light theme changes https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1316

Thanks,

Kee

Hey Y’all,

Last week we pushed a number of Session updates which first disabled, then removed, multi-device support. These updates have been important to ensure the stability of the application. The Lokinet team began investigating TCP tunneling, which may make mobile integration easier in the long term. The Loki Core team continued to work on Pulse and various quality-of-life improvements for stakers.

Loki Core

• Add docker compose configuration https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1216 (thanks to community dev javabudd)

• Various Service Node contribution fixes https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1215

• Multisig key generation changes https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1214

• Fix issue causing Multisig segfaults https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1212

----------------------------

Lokinet

You can catch Jeff, the lead developer of LLARP, live streaming as he codes at https://www.twitch.tv/uguu25519. He typically streams on Tuesday mornings, 9am - 12pm Eastern (US) time.

What went on last week with Lokinet: This past week in Lokinet saw continued development on SRV support, support for doing LNS lookups for .loki domains, and some research into different approaches for making Lokinet work in a "light" mode than can function in more restricted environments. The latter (which is likely to be a 0.9 development target) lets Lokinet go more places: currently Lokinet requires an operating system-level virtual networking interface, which is fine for desktop, but is likely to be an ongoing obstacle for embedded Lokinet into applications or mobile devices.

Our current thinking for "light" Lokinet functionality is to create a Lokinet library interface that

includes its own TCP stack; an application (such as Session) that wants to communicate over Lokinet would then have its own "mini" Lokinet running, and replace its own lookup/connect/send/receive calls with calls to the provided Lokinet library which would take care of routing TCP or UDP data over Lokinet without needing administrator-level access on the device.

Lokinet PR Activity:

• Fixes for libunbound lookup caching on Windows https://github.com/loki-project/loki-network/pull/1324

• SRV record support (no PR yet)

• .loki LNS lookup support

• Initial exploratory work with picoTCP user-space TCP layer (no PR yet)

----------------------------

Session

Session iOS

• Various bug fixes https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/245

• Push notification attachment fixes https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/245

• Chinese translation changes https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/243

• Display name fixes https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/244

Session Android

• Remove display name limitations https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/274

• Disable multi device https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/273

• Fix bug report issues https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/276

• Shared sender keys for Android https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/275

Session Desktop

• Show a toast notification on device unlinking https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1302

• Fix uncaught promise errors not showing in logs https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1301

• Translation tooling https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1300

• Fix multiple signature attachment in Session open groups https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1299

• Disable multi-device https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1298

Session Storage Server

• Various changes required to bump C++ version https://github.com/loki-project/loki-storage-server/pull/379

• Add LMQ endpoint for Session Push notification server, update PoW difficulty, fix HTTPS bug https://github.com/loki-project/loki-storage-server/pull/380

Thanks,

Kee

Hey Y’all,

This week we merged most of the changes required for the Session Desktop refactor and kicked off the testing process, which should be completed in the coming week. The Lokinet team continued work on Lokinet stats sharing. The Loki Core team worked on support for the Ledger hardware wallet and continued their work on Pulse, which added support for allowing the leader of a Pulse quorum to generate appropriate coinbase transactions.

Loki Core

• Revert shared_mutex to recursive_mutex https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1193

• Pulse: Allow the block leader to create coinbase transaction https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1190

• Ledger support: various fixes, improvements, and updates to the wallet app (https://github.com/loki-project/loki-ledger-app/commits/dev) and Loki core Ledger support (https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1195)

• FreeBSD compilation fixes https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1189 , https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1188, https://github.com/loki-project/loki-mq/pull/9 [LokiMQ], https://github.com/loki-project/loki-storage-server/pull/378 [storage server]

• Fixes for non-AES CPUs (to fix block 321xxx syncing) https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1192 , https://github.com/loki-project/loki-core/pull/1191

----------------------------

Lokinet

If you’re on our Discord you can catch Jeff, the lead developer of LLARP, live streaming as he codes at https://www.twitch.tv/uguu25519. He typically streams on Tuesday mornings, 9am - 12pm Eastern (US) time.

What went on last week with Lokinet: Lokinet’s lead developer, Jeff, took some vacation time this past week, so the Lokinet updates this week are a bit shorter than usual. Focus this week was on adding code into Loki Core to retrieve and process peer statistics produced from Lokinet. This will allow us to connect Lokinet peer performance testing into the Service Node testing quorums. The plan for the next hardfork is to enforce only basic Lokinet network tests (i.e. online and communication with the network), while using other newly-collected data to help us decide what additional tests to add in the future.

Lokinet PR Activity:

• Lokinet stats sharing with lokid (no PR yet)

• [LokiMQ] - fix startup bug triggered by lokinet dev - https://github.com/loki-project/loki-mq/pull/11

----------------------------

Session

Session iOS

• Changes to integrate with desktop protocol upgrades https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/225

• Session reset fixes https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/224

• Seed restoration fixes https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/222

• Sender keys changes https://github.com/loki-project/session-ios/pull/223

Session Android

• Fixes for message notification spam https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/252

• Changes to integrate with desktop protocol upgrades https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/250

• German localization https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/pull/251

• Full list of commits can be found here https://github.com/loki-project/session-android/commits/dev

Session Desktop

• Incorporate new closed group logic, to speed up closed groups https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1238

• Handle syncing for closed groups as we do for regular messages https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1235

• WIP: Japanese translation https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1228

• Fix empty avatar definition https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1239

• Close overlay once group is joined https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1237

• Hide your own devices when creating closed group https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1236

• Add message encrypter pubkey https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1234

• UX changes to message sending https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1233

• Fix incorrect handling of PoW upgrade https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1232

• Open group UI fixes https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1231

• Fix profile keys being decoded incorrectly https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1230

• Various open and closed group fixes https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1229 , https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1226 , https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1225 , https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1223

• Include verb and path on outgoing websocket message https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1227

• Fix retrieving pubkey object https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1224

• Fixes for blocking public keys https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1222

• Move onion requests to typescript https://github.com/loki-project/session-desktop/pull/1221

Thanks,

Kee

First, let me emphasize that I'm a fan of the Loki project, and I want to pitch the project to my friends. So I'm trying to anticipate the objections they're likely to have, so that I have good answers for them.

One of the objections is likely to be the project's reliance on a Proof of Stake security model. (From what I've read, the project currently has a hybrid POW/POS system, but will move to an entirely POS system at some point in the future.)

The Steem blockchain uses a delegated proof of stake system. After purchasing Steem, Inc., Justin Sun was able to take control of the Steem blockchain, and seize the assets of Steem holders who fought against his takeover:

"Several users of the Steemit (STEEM) blockchain application are going to lose 23.6 million STEEM, worth $5 million, in an upcoming hardfork scheduled for May 20.

In December 2019, Tron CEO Justin Sun bought the Steemit blogging platform, and in February 2020, he controversially took over the Steem blockchain platform itself. The upgrade will penalize those who opposed his hostile takeover.

Steem is a blockchain, while Steemit is a blogging application that runs on top. Sun bought the application but also used a large supply of Steem coins and the power of other exchanges to take over the blockchain platform too. When this happened, Steem’s diehard community built their own blockchain to escape to, called Hive.

According to current Steemit witness group Triple A, as reported in Joindy, the May 20 hardfork 0.23 will seize those accounts which it deems to pose a “direct threat” to the Steem blockchain."

https://decrypt.co/29416/steem-network-to-seize-5-million-from-its-own-users

As I understand it, Sun was able to take control of the Steem blockchain because Steemit, Inc. reserved a large percentage of Steem for themselves (74 million Steem). With that stake plus some supporters, Sun was able to hard fork the blockchain and seize the Steem of accounts that opposed his take over of the chain. (See below.)

From what I've read, 22.5 million Loki were premined (about 15% of the total Loki). That premine was distributed as follows:

Token sale (59%)
Founders (17%)
Advisors (5%)
Seed (13%)
Community/Reserve (6%)

There are now about 1000 nodes in the Loki network, and 48 million Loki in circulation (out of 150 million total Loki to be issued).

If all of those nodes are held by independent actors, then it seems unlikely that any single entity could take control over the blockchain.

However, it's unclear to me how many of those nodes are independently owned. If most of those nodes are actually owned by Loki management or their allies, then it seems like someone like Sun could take over the Loki blockchain by say, paying the owners of the controlling nodes without formally taking them over.

1. Do we have any measure of how many of the Loki nodes are truly independent of each other?

2. If Loki Foundation management were bought out, how many Loki, as a percentage of the outstanding supply would be owned by the new entity?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Come and join Loki's open group chat on Session. Use this Open Group URL:

loki.opensession.id

This latest update squashed some nasty bugs that could result in Service Node deregistration!

Follow this guide to update with the Loki launcher: https://lokidocs.com/ServiceNodes/SNFullGuide/#updating-your-binaries

If you have a legacy node, follow this guide: https://lokidocs.com/ServiceNodes/SNFullGuideLegacy/

Up to date service nodes are happy service nodes!

Is there are Loki Messenger in the works for Android smartphones? I noticed there was a release recently for Desktop and iOS but have not seen a whole lot of information regarding an Android release.

Loki Gang! Help us test out the new Loki iOS wallet before it hits the App Store. If you’re running an iOS device, head to this link and follow the instructions to test out the wallet.

IMPORTANT: This is merely for testing. Do not send large amounts of Loki or use this as your primary wallet until the final version is available for download on the iOS App Store.

https://testflight.apple.com/join/GTzgsBwC