bLIPs: A proposal for community-driven app layer and protocol extension standardization

Summary:

The Lightning Network's BOLTs and bLIPs were discussed in a recent conversation. BIPs allow anyone to create proposals and facilitate discussions, while BOLTs must be strictly followed for network interoperability. However, changes can be made to BOLTs when an optional feature becomes crucial for proper network operation. On the other hand, bLIPs have a different process that allows for a loosely coupled evolution of the network, providing a descriptive home for optional standards, while BOLTs remain reserved for prescriptive measures. The discussion focused on making the process of developing new ideas more accessible within BOLTs and how bLIPs can promote flexibility in the evolution of the Lightning Network.The Lightning Network community is considering implementing a Bitcoin Lightning Improvement Proposal (bLIP) process, which will not affect the existing BOLT process. The bLIP process aims to provide a place for app layer best practices to be succinctly described and organized. The proposed features are those that require coordination and may include each lnurl variant, on-the-fly channel opens, AMP, dynamic commitments, podcast payment metadata, p2p messaging formats, new pathfinding heuristics, remote node connection standards, etc.In 2018, René Pickhardt proposed a similar idea called LIP, but there is an invisible barrier to participate in the BOLTs. Some believe a new repo would reduce the barrier, while others think it would create more confusion. They suggest that Ryan's mail's points could be formalized into BOLTs, but the current process may need rethinking to make it more accessible for new ideas. Referencing the BOLTs on the lightning.network web page and in the whitepaper might help.Ryan Gentry initiated the discussion around zero-conf channels and how the BOLT process handles features and best practices that arise in the wild vs. originating within the process itself. Zero-conf channels are one of many LN innovations on the app layer that have struggled to make their way into the spec.In an ideal world, there would be a descriptive design document that the app layer implementers had collaborated on over the years that the spec group could then pick up and merge into the BOLTs now that the feature is deemed spec-worthy.

Updated on: 2023-05-23T14:57:59.838954+00:00