Author: Michael Folkson 2023-04-18 17:06:14
Published on: 2023-04-18T17:06:14+00:00
The author of the email is suggesting a tighter coupling between full nodes and Lightning nodes due to proposed changes in default policy, particularly for Lightning. The author notes that having two separate P2P networks and protocols would make less sense if transaction fees were higher, and suggests that almost every full node would want to be a Lightning node. The alternative would be to focus on Knots style consensus compatible forks of Core with limited additional functionality, but the author argues that the ecosystem should be constantly evolving and improving. The author also discusses their long-term idea of a bare bones Knots style Bitcoin implementation integrated with Core Lightning, which has become more appealing due to dysfunction in the Bitcoin Core project. The author criticizes the lack of public discussion and decision-making behind closed doors or private IRC channels in the Bitcoin Core project. The author believes that selfishly, they would like a bare bones Bitcoin and Lightning implementation integrated in one codebase, as the Bitcoin Core codebase has collected considerable cruft over time. The author mentions the libbitcoinkernel project, which was an attempt to extract the consensus engine out of Core, but it seems like it won't achieve that as consensus is too slippery a concept. The author suggests that Knots style consensus compatible codebase forks of Bitcoin Core seem to be the model. However, the author notes that it isn't clear how much cruft can be safely chopped off while effectively maintaining a less crufty fork of Bitcoin Core. Lastly, the author questions whether it makes sense to mix C and C++ code, as people have different views on them. The author suggests that it would have been better if Core Lightning was written in the same language as Bitcoin Core. The author floats the idea to hear from people who are more familiar with the entirety of the Bitcoin Core and Core Lightning codebases, noting that it would be an ambitious long-term project.
Updated on: 2023-06-16T03:56:59.269978+00:00