New release v4.0.0

[holgerd77]

Still a bit unsure with the release process, but after some back-and-forth thinking it occurred to me that actually both TS respectively promsify updates (block, merkle tree, eventually blockchain as well) are breaking changes here due to the objects being able to be passed from the outside on the VM API.

So likely we will have to make a follow-up v5.0.0 release along with these anyhow (which is also no big deal I think, if necessary so be it). So we might as well just wait for both to be finalized and published to then at least have just one necessary breaking release on the VM, and we can/should then just do the v4 release just now, have this out and go on.

Let me know what you think and eventually approve if you go along.

[s1na]

To me both alternatives are fine. Releasing v4 now and doing a v5 after the upcoming changes, or integrating the changes first and then doing a v4 release. If you're more inclined towards releasing now, let's go for it.

[holgerd77]

Patricio @alcuadrado has raised some concerns of having a stable v4 release and then release a block library with the TS transition which is not compatible with the v4 release any more, where likely many people will update.

So I would hold here and switch back to releasing this as beta, then we can integrate at least the new block library in the final version and cause less friction for people to upgrade (we won't be able to avoid such situations completely, I think we are also too understaffed atm to give things like "supporting both versions" a higher priority, this is just not realistic and causes too much overhead. We can improve here a bit if we explicitly state the supported version range along the API comments (block, tx,...) on the VM).

Anyway, will update this PR later with a new beta version number.

[holgerd77]

See ethereumjs/ethereumjs-block#74 (comment) for comment from Patricio.

[holgerd77]

Just thought longer here, I will fallover here again and actually merge and do the release. Sorry sorry for this award-ready unsteadiness on this release process.

I just really would like to get this release out, think this is overdue, and I would like to get this into the hands of others significantly before all the Istanbul stuff comes into focus and gets some urgency. Sorry Patricio, I really take your concerns seriously and partly share, hope on your understanding.

Cheers
Holger

[alcuadrado]

I just really would like to get this release out, think this is overdue, and I would like to get this into the hands of others significantly before all the Istanbul stuff comes into focus and gets some urgency.

Yeah, I completely agree with this. Even more so, we should probably integrate the Istanbul changes in v4, and then finalize the API modernization in v5. This way consumers of the VM can support the new HF rules without having to change much of their code.

[alcuadrado]

I just wouldn't release -block's new version yet, but wait until v5 and coordinate the necessary breaking changes in the different libraries.