The Loki Core team is announcing that we will be discontinuing support for Loki Launcher in the next major hardfork.
Why?
Although Loki Launcher was initially the only way to manage the entire Loki Service Node suite, the Loki team has since added Debian packages which allow a user to download and run the required suite of Loki software as a system service.
Supporting two software packages has increased time spent upgrading and adding new features to each package. In addition, after completing the recent Service Node operator survey, we found that all surveyed Service Node operators were using Debian-based operating systems.
Taking all this into account, we have decided to discontinue Loki Launcher in favour of the current Debian-based packages.
How can I migrate my existing Loki Launcher-based Service Nodes?
We will be creating a migration tool for existing Service Nodes that are running Loki Launcher. This tool, which will be released before the next hardfork, will automatically migrate most Loki Launcher Service Nodes (see below). We recommend that any new nodes created after this announcement use the Debian packages.
What if I have an exotic Service Node setup?
Multi-Service Node setups where a single machine runs multiple Service Nodes are not officially supported by the Debian packages. Loki team members will not assist those that are running multi-SN setups. However, there are existing deb packages with multi-SN support (see https://github.com/jagerman/loki-multi-sn) which advanced operators should be able to use to suit this purpose.
What about features the Loki Launcher had but the Debian releases lack?
Between now and the next hardfork, we will be porting some Loki Launcher features over to the Debian releases, including pre-qualification testing, and other relevant features.
The deb installations work slightly differently in some ways; we will be publishing a “cheat sheet” on lokidocs to help people adjust.
Can I continue running Loki Launcher after support is officially dropped?
Maybe, but we don’t know yet, as some of the changes in the upcoming hard fork might not play nice with Loki Launcher. In any case, we don’t recommend using Loki Launcher going forwards, as we will no longer be providing bug fixes or upgrades for it, and ongoing maintenance of the launcher will fall into the hands of anyone who does decide to continue using it against this recommendation.