Author: Olaoluwa Osuntokun 2021-07-01 20:43:13
Published on: 2021-07-01T20:43:13+00:00
The Lightning Network's development mailing list recently discussed the use of BIPs and BOLTs for updating the network. BOLTs are currently used to specify required functionality, but there is a gap when it comes to describing functionality that has emerged over time but isn't absolutely necessary. To address this, participants suggest using a "bazaar" style of evolution to explore the design space without constraints.Centralized management of message types is also important to avoid network incompatibilities, and clear processes are needed to assign them. The recent thread around zero-conf channels provides an opportunity to discuss how the BOLT process handles features and best practices that arise in the wild vs. originating within the process itself.Some members of the community have suggested adding a BIP-style process (bLIPs/SPARKs) on top of the BOLTs to bring app layer best practices into the fold. Some potential bLIP ideas 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. If the community is interested in moving forward, a branch has been started describing such a process based on BIP-0002.However, there are some downsides to this solution, such as adding fragmentation to the network, maintenance costs, and backward compatibility issues. Different wallets/implementations may also be willing to make different usability/security trade-offs. In the end, bad ideas die out over time, and there's no grand global committee that prevents people from deploying software they think is interesting or useful.Some participants believe that all the points that are addressed in the discussion could be formalized into BOLTs, but maybe the current process of the BOLTs needs to be rethought to make it more accessible for new ideas to find their way into the BOLTs. One thing that could help is if the BOLTs were referenced on lightning.network web page and in the whitepaper as the place to be if one wants to learn about the Lightning Network.Ultimately, there are benefits to having distinct documents for proposals/standards, bLIPs (author documents really), so that new standards/proposals can be more effectively explained, motivated, versioned, etc. Developers from various implementations and from the broader app layer ecosystem can volunteer to be listed as editors for the proposed bLIP-style process. Collisions are possible, but this should be done on a best effort basis.
Updated on: 2023-05-23T14:53:14.337916+00:00