Greeter (0xcde4de4d) - Frontier Day 1 Bytecode Verification

Byte-for-byte bytecode verification of the Greeter contract deployed at block 49,392 on August 7, 2015 - Ethereum Frontier Day 1.

Contract Details

Field	Value
Address	0xcde4de4d3baa9f2cb0253de1b86271152fbf7864
Block	49,392
Deployer	0xA1E4380A3B1f749673E270229993eE55F35663b4
Creation TX	0xef1b643d0cfb01321dfda1115fe8fb3181d9b592a79dfb75d1281117180d2d65
Runtime bytecode	546 bytes (exact match)
Creation bytecode	717 bytes (exact match)

Self-Destruct Note

This contract has self-destructed - kill() was called by the owner. Verification is against the creation TX input, which is immutable on-chain. The bytecode cannot change retroactively; the creation TX is the permanent record.

Source Code

contract mortal {
    address owner;
    function kill() { if (msg.sender == owner) suicide(owner); }
}
contract greeter is mortal {
    string greeting;
    function greeter(string _greeting) {
        greeting = _greeting;
    }
    function mortal() { owner = msg.sender; }
    function kill() { if (msg.sender == owner) suicide(owner); }
    function greet() constant returns (string) {
        return greeting;
    }
}

Source Code Explanation

This is the canonical mortal + greeter inheritance pattern from the Ethereum Frontier tutorial, with one key difference: mortal() is explicitly re-declared as a callable function inside greeter (not just a constructor). This exposes the function selector f1eae25c, allowing anyone to invoke mortal() and reset the owner to msg.sender at any time.

Function order matters for bytecode matching. The dispatch table is built in declaration order: mortal() then kill() then greet().

Function Selectors

Function	Selector
kill()	41c0e1b5
greet()	cfae3217
mortal()	f1eae25c

Compiler

• Compiler: soljson v0.1.1+commit.6ff4cd6a (JavaScript/emscripten build)
• Optimizer: OFF

Reproduce

Install the compiler:

npm install soljson-v0.1.1

Compile and extract bytecode:

node -e "var s=require('soljson-v0.1.1');var c=s.cwrap('compileJSON','string',['string','number']);console.log(JSON.parse(c(require('fs').readFileSync('greeter.sol','utf8'),0)).contracts.greeter.bytecode)"

Compare the output against the creation TX input data (strip the leading 0x).

Historical Context

The deployer (0xA1E4380A) received 2000 ETH at genesis - a substantial allocation indicating a core developer or very early insider. Before settling on this contract, they deployed 3 identical pre-Greeter drafts in a 7-minute window (blocks 49,157 to 49,186), demonstrating live iteration on the Frontier network. They then deployed this final version at block 49,392 and tested it by calling greet() at block 49,439. Later, at block 116,219, they sent 800 ETH to the Augur crowdsale.

The 3 failed drafts before this version show a developer learning in real time on the live network - a candid snapshot of the Frontier developer experience on Day 1.

Verification

Part of Awesome Ethereum Proofs and Ethereum History.