What is Bitcoin Fork?

[thebenjamincode]

hi i've been wondering about Gavin's 20MB fork?
i don't know what it is. can someone please explain it in simple explanation

[drasted]

Current block size limit is 1mb. Gavin would like to increase it to 20mb

[achow101_alt]

It is a modification to the bitcoin protocol that increases the maximum block size from 1 MB to 20 MB. If the different clients do not update to this new version, then the blockchain could split (fork) into one chain that has 20 MB blocks and one that doesn't because other clients would reject the latest blocks. The idea is that the entire network can be on the 20 MB block blockchain and the blockchain thus forks from its current state.

[DooMAD]

hi i've been wondering about Gavin's 20MB fork?
i don't know what it is. can someone please explain it in simple explanation

At the moment, with the number of users we have, we're averaging a blocksize of about 0.4MB and there's a limit of 1MB.  If we want more users on the Bitcoin network, this won't be sufficient as the blocks would fill up and only some of the waiting transactions would make it into the next block.  The rest would have to wait for another block.  If Bitcoin had even a tenth of the number of users as any credit card, you could be waiting a long time for your transaction to be confirmed.  This is why many think the limit needs to be raised.  In order to raise the limit, people need to update their clients and anyone using the old client will be on a different (or forked) chain.

[BitcoinNewbie15]

I dont know much about the bitcoin fork, i wonder if it will have any major affect on the price of Bitcoin, and if it does, whether or not it would be bullish or bearish. Is there any news when/if this fork will go into affect?

[MicroGuy]

In non-technical terms, I fork simply means the developer (central controlling authority, aka Gavin) decided to make a mandatory change that will require an update to the client.

[Amph]

they are nothing more than a upgrade to the client, they could be hard and nullify the previous version(so upgrading is mandatory) or softand  they can keep something of the previous version

[Kprawn]

Decentralization is all about concensus... You cannot run 3 versions of Bitcoin code on different computers and still have them all operating in the same way.

If someone change the code/protocol and post it somewhere... it has to be updated by all the clients using it, to have a single Bitcoin functioning in the same way.

It's like a fork in a road... people can decide to take the new updated route or follow the same old route... if half of the people follow the old route and the other half follow the new road, you would have a Bitcoin fork.

It has been done in this way, to prevent someone from making their own changes to the protocol/code and then exploiting people with backdoors etc etc.. Developers all over the world, make sure that the code published, is free from nasty surprises and then they accept it, and people can use it without having to worry if it was compromised. {Open source + decentralization + consensus}

This is why it's such a great technology. {You can make your own version, but it's not to say, everyone will start using it} Hence .. Alt coins    

[odolvlobo]

"Fork" has several meanings in this context:

1. On Github, a copy of software repository is called a "fork" of the original.
2. With open source software, anyone is able to make a copy of the software and modify it. The new software is called a "fork". Nearly all alt-coins are forks of Bitcoin.
3. The Bitcoin block chain is really a tree of blocks, but the branches are generally very short-lived. If a group of miners adds blocks to the block chain that are rejected by the other miners, then there will be two persistent branches and this is called a "fork".

Gavin's 20 MB max block size "fork" is a combination of all three. He is considering making a copy of Bitcoin Core on Github (#1 "fork"). Instead of limiting blocks to 1 MB, it will support a 20 MB block (#2 "fork"). As a result, if some miners use the original version and other miners use his version, then there will be a fork (#3 fork) in the block chain (because the 1 MB group rejects 20 MB blocks as invalid).

[bitbollo]

there is the possibility that can survive two blockchains, with two clients...aka bitcoin version 1 and bitcoin version 2 ?!?
If I remember correctly there was in the past two fork for some altcoins like for the scam on nxt or mintpal...
It's the same concept?

[alani123]

there is the possibility that can survive two blockchains, with two clients...aka bitcoin version 1 and bitcoin version 2 ?!?
If I remember correctly there was in the past two fork for some altcoins like for the scam on nxt or mintpal...
It's the same concept?

Well this has happened to altcoins as you mention. If a hard fork takes place you could end up in the wrong side of the network if you're running a non compatible client. Because of the size of the network, organisation, and the attention bitcoin receives this is a very unlikely scenario for bitcoin though.

[Lauda]

In non-technical terms, I fork simply means the developer (central controlling authority, aka Gavin) decided to make a mandatory change that will require an update to the client.

Although this is quite wrong. Gavin is not a central authority nor does he have the power to push this onto us.
The other developers have to agree to this first.
OP you can read more about it here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/34riua/hard_fork_allow_20mb_blocks_after_1_march_2016/
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-core-developer-commits-20mb-block-size-march-2016/

You will find a lot of people who have a problem with authority complaining about this. The fork does no damage at all, but I guess some people are just deluded.

[alani123]

In non-technical terms, I fork simply means the developer (central controlling authority, aka Gavin) decided to make a mandatory change that will require an update to the client.

Although this is quite wrong. Gavin is not a central authority nor does he have the power to push this onto us.
The other developers have to agree to this first.
OP you can read more about it here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/34riua/hard_fork_allow_20mb_blocks_after_1_march_2016/
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-core-developer-commits-20mb-block-size-march-2016/

You will find a lot of people who have a problem with authority complaining about this. The fork does no damage at all, but I guess some people are just deluded.

People can still reject unwanted changes (right?). If someone decides to run a client without the new changes in it no one is stopping him. IIRC if people join him, they would be forming a network that would be running without the changes in the fork.

[bitbollo]

but there is any advance by using this new block dimension?
For the miners? The "users"? For the blockchain itself?
Or it's only a geek change in btc code?

[Lauda]

People can still reject unwanted changes (right?). If someone decides to run a client without the new changes in it no one is stopping him. IIRC if people join him, they would be forming a network that would be running without the changes in the fork.

I was talking about the changes on Github. Gavin can't force the 20MB blocks unless the other developers agree to it too.
Also that is correct. Anyone can choose to run the older wallet. If he does that his Bitcoin will be worthless and he/she would be stuck due to the high difficulty.

[MicroGuy]

If someone decides to run a client without the new changes in it no one is stopping him.

Hmmmm. Not sure how well that will work. Community consensus is awesome in theory but if you look at the democratic governments of the world, in practice it's an entirely different reality.

The illusion is that people can decide not to update. But the reality is, bitcoin is just as centralized as any other form of money. I'm not saying that's a bad thing if you have a developer like Satoshi actively participating. But that is the reality. We need to choose our kings carefully.

[AtheistAKASaneBrain]

The fork that's deprecated (in this case the old 1MB fork) will eventually get abandoned, of course there will always be stubborn people using it, but it will eventually die. For example, Freenet did a fork in a version I dont remember now, and the old fork is still used for a couple people for some stupid reason probably.

[spazzdla]

The creation of Gavincoin hoping everyone will ditch Bitcoin for gavincoin..

It will be interesting.

[thejaytiesto]

The creation of Gavincoin hoping everyone will ditch Bitcoin for gavincoin..

It will be interesting.

Again, why in planet hell are you supporting 1MB over 20MB? Do you literally want Bitcoin to remain a small niche for nerds that will collapse soon as it goes mainstream? whats the catch?

[Lauda]

Again, why in planet hell are you supporting 1MB over 20MB? Do you literally want Bitcoin to remain a small niche for nerds that will collapse soon as it goes mainstream? whats the catch?

The problem is authority. That's only the rational cause here, as the people opposing this are trying to find weak arguments that support their story.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authority_problem
They think that Gavin is the sole person in control (which is wrong). They hate the fact that he has the power to make changes to the code that has affect on them or they hate the fact that they don't matter in the Bitcoin universe or any other universe for that matter.