Published on: 2013-08-18T23:11:09+00:00
In August 2013, Gavin Andresen and Mike had an email conversation discussing the idea of a NODE_BLOOM service bit and persistent node-specific identifiers. Gavin expressed concerns about making certain parts of the protocol optional, as it could have negative effects on privacy and decentralization. He also pointed out that adding more bits would require extensive testing by QA teams. However, they agreed that options were necessary for contributing to relaying and network health, and edge cases like disabling bloom filtering would still be tested.During the same discussion, Mike argued against making Bloom filtering optional, stating that it is not a lossless function and making every possible feature optional is not smart design. He drew a comparison to BitTorrent, where making re-sharing optional would hinder optimal functionality. This suggests that certain features should be mandatory for optimal operation.Both Mike and Gavin opposed the proposed NODE_BLOOM service bit and agreed that making different parts of the protocol optional would have negative consequences. Gavin specifically mentioned his opposition to the NODE_BLOOM bit and stated that he doesn't know much about NODE_BLOCK bits either. They emphasized the importance of privacy and decentralization in the Bitcoin protocol.The author of the email is opposing a proposed BIP called "NODE_BLOOM service bit," which aims to extend BIP 37 by introducing a service bit for Bloom filters. The author argues against making every possible feature optional and notes that there are currently no nodes that cannot support this feature. The proposed BIP suggests using the protocol bit NODE_BLOOM to explicitly advertise support for Bloom filters. It also proposes backward compatibility and specifies that nodes not supporting Bloom filters should disconnect peers who send Bloom filter-related messages. The proposal also suggests that DNS seeds and other discovery mechanisms support specifying required services. The document is in the public domain, and a reference implementation can be found on GitHub.In summary, this context discusses a proposal for a new BIP called "NODE_BLOOM service bit," which aims to extend BIP 37 by introducing a protocol bit for advertising support for Bloom filters. The discussion involves arguments against making parts of the protocol optional, concerns about privacy and decentralization, and the proposed changes for improving the granularity of services provided by nodes to the public.
Updated on: 2023-08-01T05:40:01.527535+00:00