what is fork?

[sambaevida]

I heard about the fork but I haven't really understood what it is, can you help me?

[OmegaStarScream]

I heard about the fork but I haven't really understood what it is, can you help me?

You could've find it yourself by a simple googling , I wouldn't be able to explain it better myself : http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/30817/what-is-a-soft-fork

[Monetizer]

From memory (may not be entirely correct) a fork is when bitcoin developers alter bitcoin's code for whatever reason which causes two blockchains (Before the edit and after) to be running side by side. Only one of the two forks should then be used as one will become the accepted bitcoin (by having the majority users) with the other chain becoming essentially an alt coin with the same "Bitcoin" name.

[puremage111]

From memory (may not be entirely correct) a fork is when bitcoin developers alter bitcoin's code for whatever reason which causes two blockchains (Before the edit and after) to be running side by side. Only one of the two forks should then be used as one will become the accepted bitcoin (by having the majority users) with the other chain becoming essentially an alt coin with the same "Bitcoin" name.

is fork something similar like rollback?

Thanks

[NeuroticFish]

From memory (may not be entirely correct) a fork is when bitcoin developers alter bitcoin's code for whatever reason which causes two blockchains (Before the edit and after) to be running side by side. Only one of the two forks should then be used as one will become the accepted bitcoin (by having the majority users) with the other chain becoming essentially an alt coin with the same "Bitcoin" name.

is fork something similar like rollback?

Thanks

No. Rollback restores a previous state.
Fork is a split up. For whatever reason the blockchain splits. It can be an attack, it can be a software change...
Normally the blockchain is like a string, the blocks relate one to another and each next block goes after the previous one.
At some point some miners will accept a block as valid, some others will accept another block as valid. From that point they are split up, there will be 2 branches.

[puremage111]

From memory (may not be entirely correct) a fork is when bitcoin developers alter bitcoin's code for whatever reason which causes two blockchains (Before the edit and after) to be running side by side. Only one of the two forks should then be used as one will become the accepted bitcoin (by having the majority users) with the other chain becoming essentially an alt coin with the same "Bitcoin" name.

is fork something similar like rollback?

Thanks

No. Rollback restores a previous state.
Fork is a split up. For whatever reason the blockchain splits. It can be an attack, it can be a software change...
Normally the blockchain is like a string, the blocks relate one to another and each next block goes after the previous one.
At some point some miners will accept a block as valid, some others will accept another block as valid. From that point they are split up, there will be 2 branches.

Hope i get this right because i read about the forks on ethereum days ago and i am not really sure of it.

Whenever a fork happens, it splits one particular blockchain into 2 branches? which means generally they are still under the same chain but it just splitting into A and B? Sorry to ask this because even i took courses in IT but in our country, our education doesn't touch stuffs like cryptocurrency, blockchain perhaps we are still slow.


The intervention that’s being weighed is called a “fork.” It’s a decentralized network’s version of a reset button. It would entail rolling back the entire Ethereum network to a previous day

From : http://qz.com/730004/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-ethereum-hard-fork/

Thanks

[NeuroticFish]

Hope i get this right because i read about the forks on ethereum days ago and i am not really sure of it.

Whenever a fork happens, it splits one particular blockchain into 2 branches? which means generally they are still under the same chain but it just splitting into A and B? Sorry to ask this because even i took courses in IT but in our country, our education doesn't touch stuffs like cryptocurrency, blockchain perhaps we are still slow.

Yes, 2 branches. Just you will refer to them from that point as 2 blockchains, not as 2 branches.
They have some history together, but no future together. So it's not anymore the same chain.
Same chain would mean that a NEW transaction on one branch would be accepted on the other branch and this doesn't happen.

The intervention that’s being weighed is called a “fork.” It’s a decentralized network’s version of a reset button. It would entail rolling back the entire Ethereum network to a previous day

From : http://qz.com/730004/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-ethereum-hard-fork/

Thanks

This is an explanation ... rather confusing.
A theft had happen. So what they did (from what I know) : they did TWO STEPS:
1. They did a rollback to a block just before the theft transaction had happen. This is a "go back into history". The new "NOW" became a point where the theft didn't happen "yet".
2. They did a fork THERE.

The result was a branch (chain) with the correct history and supported by some, a branch where the theft DID happen (ETC)
and a branch with some history erased, where the theft did not happen (ETH).

While the ETC branch is more correct by common sense, the ETH branch is the one supported by the original devs and it has a pretty good reasoning because it stopped a huge theft (although I don't like the approach).

[Mastsetad]

A fork in software development refers to the event of an independent project spinning off from a software project. Such forks sometimes occur in the opensource sphere, when there are irreconcilable plans/goals within a project's community, then often leading to a split in the community and two distinct projects thereafter. In practice this takes form in the sourcecode being copied and henceforth being developed in a different direction independently by the forkers. For example in this conventional sense of fork, Litecoin is a fork of Bitcoin: Litecoin started as a copy of Bitcoin's code-base, but developed into an independent project (although still closely related).

Source: http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/30817/what-is-a-soft-fork

[bitnewgirl]

When do you think the  btc fork will occur?
Which side are you on?

[Felimon]

From memory (may not be entirely correct) a fork is when bitcoin developers alter bitcoin's code for whatever reason which causes two blockchains (Before the edit and after) to be running side by side. Only one of the two forks should then be used as one will become the accepted bitcoin (by having the majority users) with the other chain becoming essentially an alt coin with the same "Bitcoin" name.

If someone would design a fork from the start, would it be possible for them to design a program which will be able to manipulate the transactions from that fork on, making it possible to steal bitcoin from other users?

[amacar2]

May be this can be helpful to anyone to understand difference between soft and hard fork https://www.weusecoins.com/hard-fork-soft-fork-differences/
I really like this guide myself to understand it in better way.