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+# Dogecoin Core 1.8
+===================
+
+Dogecoin Core 1.8 introduces AuxPoW from block 371,337. AuxPoW is a technology
+which enables miners to submit work done while mining other coins, as work
+on the Dogecoin block chain. Dogecoin Core 1.8 also enables payment protocol
+support for Dogecoin (note that Dogecoin's implementation of payment protocol is
+not compatible with Bitcoin's protocol). Lastly, 1.8  also includes all fixes
+from Bitcoin Core 0.9.2, whose release notes you can read at
+https://bitcoin.org/en/release/v0.9.2 (this is a summary, and the release includes
+around 150 bugfixes from Bitcoin Core).
+
+Note that all users MUST upgrade to 1.8. If you're unable to update before the
+switchover block (371,337, expected around 12 September 2014), you MUST update
+as soon as possible afterwards in order to be able to continue to use Dogecoin.
+Users remaining on the previous client WILL NOT be able to receive or spend
+Dogecoin (with the exception of with other nodes who have not upgraded).
+
+## Upgrading
+============
+
+Before upgrading, back up your wallet.dat file just in case of any problems; you
+can back up the wallet.dat file by using the "Backup Wallet" option from the "File"
+menu. Ensure your existing wallet software is closed before upgrading.
+
+Note that a full reindex is required as part of the upgrade to 1.8, and this
+will typically take around an hour to complete. If you are running the Qt client
+you will be prompted to reindex when first running the software, while if you
+use "dogecoind" you must run it the first time with the "-reindex" command line
+option.
+
+For mining applications ONLY, please run Dogecoin Core with the -disablesafemode
+command line option during the block switchover period to ensure mining is not
+halted when the blockchain forks. All others should run Dogecoin Core as normal,
+and in case of safe mode being activated should restart their client.
+
+## Downgrading
+==============
+
+As 1.8 includes a substantial change to the mining protocol, downgrading to previous
+clients is not possible.
+
+## AuxPoW
+=========
+
+AuxPoW is enabled from block 371,337. Until that block the RPC commands for using AuxPoW
+will not function, and AuxPoW blocks will be rejected.
+
+AuxPoW benefits Dogecoin in two ways; firstly, the effective hashrate of the coin is
+increased by these additional miners, making it harder to perform a 51% attack against
+the coin, and secondly it reduces conflict for resources (Scrypt miners), demotivating
+multipools from switching between Dogecoin and other Scrypt coins.
+
+AuxPoW blocks are mined using the "getauxblock" and "getworkaux" RPC commands. Support
+for AuxPoW mining is included in Powerpool ( https://github.com/simplecrypto/powerpool/ )
+and p2pool ( http://p2pool.in/ ).
+
+In comparison to the AuxPoW implementation in United Scrypt Coin, Dogecoin uses a
+different coinbase transaction input script format which includes block height in
+compliance with BIP0034.
+
+## Payment Protocol
+===================
+
+Dogecoin Core 1.8 adds payment protocol support, which is used to streamline payments
+being made to merchants.
+
+This protocol is defined in DIP0070-DIP0072, based on the BIP standards with the same
+assigned numbers. DIP standards can be found at https://github.com/dogecoin/dips/ .
+The key differencs between the Bitcoin and Dogecoin payment protocols are that
+the Dogecoin payment request uses a "genesis" field containing the hash of the network's
+genesis block to identify networks instead of the "network" field. Further, MIME types
+for the request, payment and response are modified to identify the files as distinct
+types from the Bitcoin files.
+
+## Transaction Fees
+===================
+
+As of 1.8 all transactions have fees applied by defaults, with no exemptions made for
+"old" coins. This ensures fees are consistent, while remaining extremely competitive
+(typically 1 Doge, or around $0.00012 per transaction).
+
+## RPC Allow IP
+===============
+
+The format of IP masks supplied to the "rpcallowip" command line option has changed.
+It no longer accepts subnets like '192.168.*.*', and the format '192.168/16" should
+be used instead.
+
+## Other Changes
+================
+
+The Chinese and Korean translations have been updated.
+
+Protocol version has been updated to 80000, meaning that a later release of the client
+can block access to all old clients (70002 and below).
+
+In case of an error reading the block database from disk, the database cursor could be
+left open, which caused an assertion error later. The database cursor is now correctly
+disposed of in all cases.
+
+Tweaked trigger conditions for safe mode to take into account the much faster block time
+of Dogecoin compared to Bitcoin. This should lead to less false positives.
+
+A problem in parsing mangled dogecoin: URIs under Windows has been resolved, and as
+part of this work network detection for dogecoin: URIs is now more robust.