Maximum signature operations per block hard rule

[paraipan]

Well, I sincerely doubt an absolute leadership role, Linus Torvalds-style was intended. Not even Satoshi made himself appear that way.

Satoshi had absolute control over the bitcoin.org client, and he discouraged people from creating alternative clients. He tended to view the Bitcoin network as being equivalent to the Bitcoin software which he controlled. He once asked me to refrain from posting publicly about him changing a hard network rule. I have little doubt that he would have handled the P2SH issue by just quietly adding the code to the client, not waiting for miners to "agree" as Gavin did.

Not that any of this is necessarily bad, but it seems you remember Satoshi as being different than he actually was.

What hard rule was that? If I may ask

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[theymos]

The rule that a block may not contain more than 20,000 signature operations. Satoshi was concerned that if this rule change was publicly known, someone would try to make some really expensive blocks before the new rule was scheduled to take effect. However, nowadays a rule change such as this would be very controversial, and this particular rule might cause problems in the future because the limit is quite low.

[paraipan]

The rule that a block may not contain more than 20,000 signature operations. Satoshi was concerned that if this rule change was publicly known, someone would try to make some really expensive blocks before the new rule was scheduled to take effect. However, nowadays a rule change such as this would be very controversial, and this particular rule might cause problems in the future because the limit is quite low.

Interesting, I didn't know that, thanks theymos

Is nice to know we have all the bases covered, because everything unlimited in this world gets abused with enough time.

[goodlord666]

The rule that a block may not contain more than 20,000 signature operations. Satoshi was concerned that if this rule change was publicly known, someone would try to make some really expensive blocks before the new rule was scheduled to take effect. However, nowadays a rule change such as this would be very controversial, and this particular rule might cause problems in the future because the limit is quite low.

What is a signature operation? A transaction? Or is it related to the block hash?

[theymos]

What is a signature operation? A transaction? Or is it related to the block hash?

Every CHECKSIG-like script op increases the number of signature operations (sigops) by a certain amount. So:
- A standard transaction has one or two sigops
- A sendmany transaction has one sigop for each recipient and perhaps one additional sigop
- A transaction using multisig counts as 20 sigops per "multisig arrangement" unless you're using P2SH, in which case each public key involved in the multisig counts as one sigop.

[goodlord666]

What is a signature operation? A transaction? Or is it related to the block hash?

Every CHECKSIG-like script op increases the number of signature operations (sigops) by a certain amount. So:
- A standard transaction has one or two sigops
- A sendmany transaction has one sigop for each recipient and perhaps one additional sigop
- A transaction using multisig counts as 20 sigops per "multisig arrangement" unless you're using P2SH, in which case each public key involved in the multisig counts as one sigop.

OK I get it.