Author: Matt Corallo 2021-02-19 17:48:00
Published on: 2021-02-19T17:48:00+00:00
In a discussion on the Bitcoin-dev mailing list, it was noted that Bitcoin Core does not have the infrastructure to support switching consensus rules with the same datadir. This means that if the software was altered to support LOT=false, valid blocks would be marked as invalid after running with uasf=true for some time. The additional development required to enable switching back to uasf=false is complex and critical, making the review and testing cycles needed seem not worth it.The only practical way to ship such an option would be to treat it as a separate chain, including its own separate datadir, much like how regtest, testnet, and signet are treated. Matt Corallo via bitcoin-dev pointed out that Bitcoin Core has a long-standing policy of not shipping options that could shoot users in the foot, and he would be disappointed if that changed now. He believes the work Bitcoin Core maintainers and developers do is to recommend courses of action which they believe have reasonable levels of consensus and are technically sound.Adam Back suggested that a LOT=true option would be useful, as there are clearly people of both views, or those who don't care but might later. He believes this would avoid assumptive control via defaults and prevent misinterpretation of code repositories or shipped defaults as "control." However, Matt Corallo believes that people are more than welcome to run such software themselves, but he anticipates that the loud minority on Twitter and elsewhere aren't processing enough transactions or throwing enough financial weight behind their decision for them to do anything but switch back if they find themselves on a chain with no blocks.
Updated on: 2023-05-21T01:00:47.009688+00:00