Author: Danny Thorpe 2015-08-18 20:48:49
Published on: 2015-08-18T20:48:49+00:00
A proposal was made on the Bitcoin-dev mailing list regarding deploying experimental code on the "live" bitcoin blockchain. The proposal suggested carrying out a block size limit experiment for long-term trials using testnet instead, as deploying such an experimental code on the live blockchain would be deemed unnecessarily risky. The author of the proposal suggested that there was already a consensus among core developers regarding the raising of block size, and that immediate consensus on how, when, how much, and how fast to raise the block size is not guaranteed. The proposal suggested a schedule for an experimental hard fork, with objectives in order of importance, the first being to show the world that reaching a consensus for a Bitcoin hard fork is possible. The second objective would be to collect data for future hard forks with a slight increase in block size, whereas the third objective would be to slightly relieve the pressure of full blocks without any minimal adverse effects on network performance. It was noted that the third objective was more like a side effect of the experiment. The proposal recommended the following parameters: If no other consensus could be reached before February 1st, 2016, they would adopt the backup plan. The backup plan suggests that 30 days after 80% of miner approval (but not before June 1st, 2016), the block size is increased to 1.5MB. If the backup plan is adopted, a better solution should be found before December 31st, 2017. The rationale behind these dates was explained, with June 1st, 2016 chosen to ensure that everyone has enough time to prepare for a hard fork. Whereas February 1st, 2016 allows for five more months of negotiations, and 2 months after workshops. It was suggested that if the community as a whole agreed with this experimental hard fork, the plan would be announced on bitcoin.org and coding of the patch would commence immediately. If no further consensus could be reached, a new version of Bitcoin Core with the patch will be released on or before February 1st, 2016, and everyone will be asked to upgrade immediately. The proposal concluded by stating that if the experiment were successful, more hard forks would follow in the future.
Updated on: 2023-06-10T20:20:15.990845+00:00