Author: Jorge Timón 2020-01-10 23:07:00
Published on: 2020-01-10T23:07:00+00:00
The discussion revolves around the activation methods for soft forks, with a focus on goals that need to be considered. The first goal is to avoid activating changes when there is significant, reasonable objection from someone who has well-accepted and reasonable use of Bitcoin. The second goal is to avoid activating within a timeframe that does not make high node-level-adoption likely, while the third is to avoid losing hashpower to un-upgraded miners. The fourth goal calls for the use of hashpower enforcement to de-risk the upgrade process wherever possible, while the fifth goal is to follow the will of the community without overruling any reasonable objection. BIP 9 is proposed as an effective way to achieve goals 2-4, but it fails to achieve the first and fifth goals. BIP 8 has been proposed as an alternative, but its deployment would fail goals 1, 3, and 4, and possibly even increase the ability of developers to decide the consensus rules of the system.To strike a balance between the drawbacks of BIP 8 and BIP 9, the Great Consensus Cleanup softfork proposal includes a standard BIP 9 deployment with a one-year time horizon for activation with 95% miner readiness. A consensus rule could require blocks to signal for activation in the last activation window, making it easier for users to actively resist a change they oppose. This can result in a fork, but if different groups of users want different things, this is arguably the best behavior. Overall, the discussion highlights the importance of considering the goals of soft fork activation methods and finding a balance between them to ensure a smooth transition while following the will of the community.The Bitcoin Core development team has proposed a new activation method for future soft forks. The proposal includes a three-step process that involves 1) a full node release, 2) a six-month quieting period for community analysis and discussion, and 3) a command-line/bitcoin.conf parameter for opting into a BIP 8 deployment with a 24-month time horizon for flag-day activation. This extended time horizon ensures standard activation goals are met, even if the time frame needs to be significantly extended. The development team stresses that developing Bitcoin is not a race and waiting up to 42 months to ensure a positive precedent is set will be worth it in the long run. Feedback from the community is welcome on this proposal.
Updated on: 2023-06-13T23:02:57.012827+00:00