- Geth v1.13.0 has finally been released after six years of development.
- This update allows Ethereum states to be stored and referenced by their path instead of individual block hashes, making pruning easier and more efficient.
After six years of development, Ethereum has finally released its Geth v1.13.0 update, introducing a new database model for Ethereum state storage. Before this update, to improve state storage, users would have to halt their node operations offline to prune them individually and then resync their node with the rest of the network just to clear irrelevant data. This process was painstakingly slow.
Additionally, before Geth, the Ethereum state was stored in Patricia Tries—data tree structures where block hashes are held in leaf nodes, and each leaf node is an actor in a unique string of characters that, when referenced holistically, identifies the path all the data stored. Storing data and referencing it by hashes causes deduplication, which is usually good as irrelevant state data is eliminated. However, multiple tries could reference the identical hashes as transactions become more complex, making it difficult to tell which leaf nodes can be pruned and which ones can’t.
Geth’s database model proposes state data be referenced by its path across all character strings and leaf nodes as opposed to individual block hashes, making it clear which leaf nodes reference multiple of the same datasets and can be pruned. Geth v1.13.0 will reduce node startup times for network resyncing and foster a much more user-friendly experience for Ethereum validators.
