Firedancer Testnet Release v26.11.0

This is a Testnet release. It is not suggested for Mainnet use.

• Alpenglow is now the only available consensus mode. The following configuration keys are no longer supported: [consensus] alpenglow, [tiles.tower] write_vote_history_file, and [tiles.txsend] txsend_src_port
• Added a new failover mechanism between two Firedancer validators, designed to be easy to use, fast, and secure. Refer to the failover guide for details
• Support for all Solana 4.4 features
• Support for geo_aware_leader_schedule (SIMD-0675), validator_location_registration (SIMD-0674), and stricter_shred_validation (SIMD-0504) features
• Reduced mainnet memory usage from 159 to 142 GiB
• The transaction cache and cost tracker gained fallback disk paths, which will not be written during routine or healthy operations. Configurable at [paths] txncache and [paths] cost_tracker
• Added a new iavf kernel-bypass networking provider for Intel ice/i40e NICs through SR-IOV virtual functions
• Added an experimental auction scheduling strategy for block packing, enabled with [tiles.pack] schedule_strategy = "auction"
• Improvements to the experimental efficient mode ([layout] mode = "efficient")