Author: Tier Nolan 2015-08-19 13:22:26
Published on: 2015-08-19T13:22:26+00:00
The email conversation in this context is related to the discussion of signaling support for BIP (Bitcoin Improvement Proposals) while keeping the consensus rule intact. The idea proposed is to use nVersion & 0x8 as a signal for support. However, it raises the concern of what will happen if XT (Bitcoin XT) gets 40% support and the BIP gets 55%. It is suggested that blocks with version numbers less than 8 should be rejected once the 75% threshold is met. Furthermore, it is pointed out that by advertising 0x7, XT is effectively claiming to support the check locktime verify BIPs but they don't have the code. A sequence is proposed that can be used without a specific version-bits proposal. Until height = N + 5000, if 950 of the last 1000 blocks have the 0x8 bit set, then reject blocks with version numbers less than 8. At height N, if the above rule is active, then the BIP becomes permanent. This gives a period of time after lock that bit 8 is kept and then a period where it is guaranteed to be zero. This allows software that is only watching the bit time to be upgraded and similar time where the bit is set to zero before it can be reused. Finally, N could be set 1 year from now or so.
Updated on: 2023-06-10T20:29:41.599552+00:00