Quote from: Sydboy on July 25, 2014, 05:14:33 PM

i still use bitcoin-qt 0.8.x
i was wondering if i MUST upgrade in the near future to be compatible with the rest of the network.

is their an end date when everyone needs to be using 0.9.x or will 0.8.x last me for a good while ?
i just prefer the layout of 0.8.x before anyone asks why i do not upgrade =)
and yeah i no it might be vulnerable to heartbleed but i do not use rpc which i believe would make me not vulnerable ?

thanks happy people!

your client will be dropped from the network once the actual version gets a new minimum protocol version.
the actual min protocol version is: 209. this is hardcoded into version.h (https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/src/version.h#L35).

so lets say you have a client with protocol version 210. the actual p2p network will accept your node as the min. protocol version is 209.

now let s say that the min. protocol version gets updated to 211 for some reason.
your client will now be disconnected from all updated clients as thy won't accept your minimum protocol version.

and as for the OpenSSL bug. YES you are theoretically vulnerable as long as you use the old OpenSSL version. the bitcoin protocol itself is secure and not affected by the heartbleed bug. but in fact your computer is unsecure as long as that version is running. and as long as your computer is not safe, you bitcoins are either.. so a dedicated hacker would be able to get access to your machine and steal your coins without even touching the wallet/rpc.... (keylog + wallet.dat: just to mention ONE method..)

SO PLEASE UPDATE YOUR OPENSSL (if you haven't done yet) AND ROTATE ALL YOUR SSL KEYS!!!

regards,
bitsta