Published on: 2020-08-24T20:33:46+00:00
Bitcoin developer Suhas Daftuar has proposed a new Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) that suggests Bitcoin network clients should ignore unknown messages received before a VERACK. This proposal builds on his previous suggestion for feature negotiation in the WTXID-based transaction relay, known as BIP 339. The implementation of BIP 339 has been merged into Bitcoin Core but has not yet been released. Daftuar believes that software upgrading past protocol version 70016 was already planning to either implement BIP 339 or ignore the wtxidrelay message proposed in it. To ensure future protocol upgrades benefit from feature negotiation at the time of connection, he suggests using the same method as proposed in BIP 339 without needing to bump the protocol version. Having a standard understanding of how other network clients operate would be helpful in this regard.However, there are concerns about the requirement to ignore unknown messages, as it is both a protocol-breaking change and poor protocol design. Changes to version negotiation itself can be problematic. Daftuar proposes making features optional at the new protocol level, allowing each client to limit its communication to the negotiated protocol and ignore unsupported/disabled features.In addition to Daftuar's proposal, the context discusses the inclusion of negotiation utility functions in a bip, specifically a "polite disconnect" function for nodes that do not want to connect due to incompatibility. It suggests standardizing naming conventions and negotiation message types to avoid different systems and limit the bip to defining ignorable vs. non-ignorable message types. This would make it easier for old nodes to apply generic rules around reporting, rejecting or responding to unknown feature negotiations versus untagged messages which could be a negotiation or something else.Daftuar hopes to receive feedback on any potential issues with his proposal to prevent disruption in deploying future peer-to-peer changes.
Updated on: 2023-08-02T02:37:06.021825+00:00