Author: Melvin Carvalho 2015-06-18 18:09:18
Published on: 2015-06-18T18:09:18+00:00
The context is a discussion about the decision-making process within Bitcoin Core. Mike Hearn argues that maintainers should take part in debates and make decisions, with delegated commit access respecting those decisions to keep projects making progress. He also notes that this is how nearly all coding projects work and that he follows this model for his own projects, such as Bitcoinj. However, Bitcoin Core is in a unique position where there is no decision-making ability due to anyone with commit access being able to block any change. While some may think that this anti-process leads to better decision-making, Hearn disagrees, stating that it leads to no decision-making at all. Furthermore, he notes that Bitcoin is not like other open source projects due to the large financial stakes involved and the need for conservative approaches. Ultimately, Bitcoin is a ledger based on consensus, with three branches - miners, protocol, and market - playing a role in regulating it. The discussion touches on the importance of having a decentralized decision-making process and avoiding dictatorships, with Hearn noting the luck involved in getting the right person to run a project. Despite its unique position, however, Bitcoin's approach has served it well so far.
Updated on: 2023-06-09T23:31:39.940445+00:00