Published on: 2019-03-14T01:17:31+00:00
Dear Varunram,Thank you for expressing your concerns regarding the use of a common signet controlled by a trusted entity. While using a signet would be beneficial in testing reorgs, it is important to consider the potential issues that may arise. The maintainer's unscheduled work or emergencies could impact the testing process, and people would need to run Signet1 nodes in parallel with current testnet nodes. To test Signet on a global scale, individuals can spin up nodes in various locations and use centralized services like AWS.In an email exchange between Anthony Towns and Kalle Alm, the idea of making signatures optional in headers was discussed. This would allow for "light nodes" that don't download or verify signatures. Signatures would only sign the traditional 80-byte header and wouldn't be included in the block's tx merkle root. However, this approach comes with added complexity, as signature-aware nodes would need to reject headers sent from non-signature-aware nodes. One solution proposed is to enforce including the previous block's header signature in the current block's coinbase.Matt Corallo suggested keeping the existing block header format and applying signature rules to a field in the coinbase transaction for easier testing. However, there are concerns that this approach could make DoS attacks easier. David A. Harding proposed connecting lite clients to trusted nodes on signet to protect against missing/invalid-signature DoS.The idea of moving digital signatures from Bitcoin blocks to help with scaling and reduce block size was discussed. It was suggested that users could connect their lite clients to trusted nodes on signet to protect against missing/invalid-signature DoS. Trusted signer Alice and Bob were proposed as multiple keys to sign blocks, allowing users to choose their preferred behavior.Karl-Johan Alm proposed a new network called "signet" as a centralized alternative to the existing testnet. Signet blocks are signed by a specific key instead of using proof of work, offering predictability, stability, and ease of global testing. Anyone can create a signet by creating a key pair and a challenge scriptPubKey. A default persistent "signet1" is proposed to be created, which can be replaced in future versions if necessary.In conclusion, the introduction of signet as a complement to the existing testnet provides benefits such as predictability, stability, and ease of global testing. However, it is important to address concerns regarding the potential impact of unscheduled work or emergencies on the testing process. The discussion also explored the idea of making signatures optional in headers and connecting lite clients to trusted nodes on signet.
Updated on: 2023-08-02T00:37:33.042881+00:00