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Author Topic: Bitcoin core,Developers and maintainers.  (Read 232 times)
Ambatman (OP)
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December 19, 2023, 04:59:22 PM
Merited by I_Anime (2), JayJuanGee (1), ABCbits (1)
 #1

I decided to check up about Bitcoin core developers but something's still feels confusing for me.

What I could gather was:

Bitcoin core is an open source software that act as a gateway to the Bitcoin blockchain. There exist others but Bitcoin core is the most influential since it was created by Satoshi.

Bitcoin core developers are most time anonymous and could leave and join at any time. There also exist organizations that helps in funding their activities.

Bitcoin core maintainer's are five in numbers and can be changed if they go against the Bitcoin consensus.

My confusion:

Bitcoin core developers was a term I came across for the first time during the reign of ordinals early this year, where a post criticized the core developers for allowing such thing occur.

They still appeared when discussions on increasing Bitcoin block size is been discussed. Does that mean that through consensus Bitcoin core developers can make changes to the blockchain or does their control only end in the Bitcoin core.

Bitcoin core maintainer's role still confuses me. Their role look similar to that of core developers.

Is there any group that checks and balance the activities of the Bitcoin core developers?

I always thought I knew about Bitcoin core
until I asked myself what it entails and it came out blank.

Clarification would be appreciated.

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December 19, 2023, 05:57:03 PM
Merited by JayJuanGee (1)
 #2

They fix bugs, improve the client with new tech/features, propose new changes, they don't control consensus obviously, any major changes requires majority consensus.

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December 19, 2023, 06:28:03 PM
Merited by BlackHatCoiner (4), ABCbits (3), apogio (3), DooMAD (2), JayJuanGee (1), DdmrDdmr (1), Ambatman (1)
 #3

There exist others but Bitcoin core is the most influential since it was created by Satoshi.

To be precise, Satoshi invented Bitcoin as concept and network, but the name "Bitcoin Core" was introduced later by known to all Bitcoin developers.  As displayed in their about page, Bitcoin Core is a descendant of the original Bitcoin software client released by Satoshi.

Bitcoin core developers was a term I came across for the first time during the reign of ordinals early this year, where a post criticized the core developers for allowing such thing occur.

This is incorrect.  Developers do not allow Ordinals.  To allow something, you need to permit it.  The Bitcoin network is permissionless.  Developers have the freedom to write code, but we (the users) have the freedom to not run that code and go along with a client we are more ideologically aligned with.

They still appeared when discussions on increasing Bitcoin block size is been discussed. Does that mean that through consensus Bitcoin core developers can make changes to the blockchain or does their control only end in the Bitcoin core.

Through their consensus they can change Bitcoin Core (i.e., through proposals and discussions).  But the Bitcoin network is much more abstract than a client.  To change the protocol rules you would need to split the old chain based on your new rules and see who follows you.
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December 19, 2023, 06:35:11 PM
Merited by JayJuanGee (1)
 #4

Is there any group that checks and balance the activities of the Bitcoin core developers?

Anyone can contribute not only the core developers, currently we have 929 contributors including core developers.

I don't know what you mean by balance the activities but you can monitor all their activities on Bitcoin core GitHub page under this link below.

- https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/graphs/contributors

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December 20, 2023, 10:23:11 AM
Merited by pooya87 (4), JayJuanGee (1)
 #5

Bitcoin core developers are most time anonymous and could leave and join at any time. There also exist organizations that helps in funding their activities.

By any chance, have you checked this article Who Funds Bitcoin Development?

They still appeared when discussions on increasing Bitcoin block size is been discussed. Does that mean that through consensus Bitcoin core developers can make changes to the blockchain or does their control only end in the Bitcoin core.

Ends in Bitcoin Core. But it can't be denied they have relative big influence, although theoretically people could fork Bitcoin Core software.

Bitcoin core maintainer's role still confuses me. Their role look similar to that of core developers.

IIRC it refer to maintainer's role on GitHub who can decide which commit or PR to be merged or not.

Is there any group that checks and balance the activities of the Bitcoin core developers?

AFAIK no. But since their actively is done publicly, anyone can check what they're doing.

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December 23, 2023, 08:34:17 PM
 #6


By any chance, have you checked this article Who Funds Bitcoin Development?

Yeah did but the article was created 2020 so outdated but I think this is more recent https://www.doubloin.com/learn/who-pays-bitcoin-developers#:~:text=Funding%20for%20Bitcoin%20Core%20development,well%20as%20other%20notable%20contributors.

Quote
Developers have the freedom to write code, but we (the users) have the freedom to not run that code and go along with a client we are more ideologically aligned with
Oh that means the final decisions lay in the hands of the community. Thanks the vagueness I had about Bitcoin core developers has been clarified.

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December 23, 2023, 08:42:13 PM
Merited by JayJuanGee (1), ABCbits (1), Ambatman (1)
 #7

Quote
Developers have the freedom to write code, but we (the users) have the freedom to not run that code and go along with a client we are more ideologically aligned with
Oh that means the final decisions lay in the hands of the community. Thanks the vagueness I had about Bitcoin core developers has been clarified.
I'd rephrase it as: 'the final decisions lay in the hands of the full node operators'.

Think of it this way: if core developers were to just introduce a change to the codebase without going through the regular BIP process and simply pushed it to the GitHub master branch, we'd just not update our nodes and the network would not adopt these changes.

Bitcoin, the network of nodes, is very nicely decentralized globally, so no single entity can just change it without every node operator agreeing on these changes by installing the software update that implements them.

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December 23, 2023, 09:11:34 PM
 #8


I'd rephrase it as: 'the final decisions lay in the hands of the full node operators'.

Think of it this way: if core developers were to just introduce a change to the codebase without going through the regular BIP process and simply pushed it to the GitHub master branch, we'd just not update our nodes and the network would not adopt these changes.

Lol I forgot about the full nodes operators.
If the full nodes doesn't accept the change then the light nodes would follow same path.
I guess the more full node operators existing the more decentralized Bitcoin would become.
Wow Technical aspects of Bitcoin is interesting than I expected.
Thanks for the further clarification.

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December 24, 2023, 08:41:06 AM
 #9


That article definitely more recent. Although it's less detailed and bring little information if you read old article i mentioned.

Quote
Developers have the freedom to write code, but we (the users) have the freedom to not run that code and go along with a client we are more ideologically aligned with
Oh that means the final decisions lay in the hands of the community. Thanks the vagueness I had about Bitcoin core developers has been clarified.
I'd rephrase it as: 'the final decisions lay in the hands of the full node operators'.

Think of it this way: if core developers were to just introduce a change to the codebase without going through the regular BIP process and simply pushed it to the GitHub master branch, we'd just not update our nodes and the network would not adopt these changes.

Bitcoin, the network of nodes, is very nicely decentralized globally, so no single entity can just change it without every node operator agreeing on these changes by installing the software update that implements them.

It's not that simple though. Majority pool/miner usually need to support the change as well.

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December 25, 2023, 07:07:32 AM
 #10

Bitcoin, the network of nodes, is very nicely decentralized globally, so no single entity can just change it without every node operator agreeing on these changes by installing the software update that implements them.

Could you elaborate on how are you certain that the network of nodes is decentralised at it's current status ? If we are not able to know the identity of nodes owners how can we be certain that not a single entity or less than ten controls most of those nodes ? Because the way i understand decentralisation has nothing to do with the number of nodes but with different entities controlling them .

   

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December 25, 2023, 12:48:01 PM
Merited by ABCbits (4), JayJuanGee (1)
 #11

Quote
If we are not able to know the identity of nodes owners how can we be certain that not a single entity or less than ten controls most of those nodes ?
We cannot. We can only observe other nodes, and guess the level of decentralization. Because even if you can see some node, that returns the same "User Agent" as Bitcoin Core, it doesn't mean that the code under the hood is identical. It is most likely the case, but it is not necessary. It has to be only compatible, but it can handle some stuff differently. Also, the good example of that is Firefox and Tor Browser: you never know, which client is used, because both behave in a similar way (but the software behind them is different).

Quote
Because the way i understand decentralisation has nothing to do with the number of nodes but with different entities controlling them .
Yes, and for that reason, it is hard to measure. For example, I own more than one node: some of them are pruned, some of them are full, and they are running from different locations. It is hard to take two different nodes, and say "Hey, both of them are controlled by Garlo Nicon!". To discover that, you need to change some settings, and for example send some transaction below one satoshi per byte, and see it accepted, when mempools are empty. Or you have to craft some specific transaction, and then my node can respond to that, by sending back a different transaction, which for example spend some of the coins from what you just sent.

It is possible to build a lot of different protocols on top of Bitcoin. And some people did that, so even if you can see, that some node is compatible with Bitcoin Core, it can have some hidden features.

Quote
Does that mean that through consensus Bitcoin core developers can make changes to the blockchain or does their control only end in the Bitcoin core.
They only provide software. But people can run whatever they want on their machines. And for example I use a slightly modified version on some of my nodes. Also, if you just change your configuration file, you can reach a different outcome, even if you use a standard client. For example, you can allow free transactions, you can remove the dust limit, you can change the priority of transactions in your own mempool, you can batch transactions with matching sighashes, before including them in your candidate blocks, and so on.

Quote
Majority pool/miner usually need to support the change as well.
It depends, which feature is needed. Because a lot of things can be implemented, without getting any additional support from mining pools. For example, it is possible to implement transaction batching, without notifying anyone. The same with data compression. The same with covert communication channel. The same with "test sidechain, based on signing mainnet coins". The same with Scanners (based on Silent Payments). And the same with a lot of other features, which I hope will be published by some people in the next year.

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