Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] BIP Proposals for Output Script Descriptors

From: "David A. Harding" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2021 17:24:05 -1000

On Tue, Jun 29, 2021 at 09:14:39PM +0000, Andrew Chow via bitcoin-dev wrote:
> *** Optionally followed by a single <tt>/*</tt> or <tt>/*'</tt> final
> step to denote all direct unhardened or hardened children.
> 
> [...]
> 
> In the above specification, the hardened indicator <tt>'</tt> may be
> replaced with alternative hardnened indicators of <tt>h</tt> or <tt>H</tt>.

Is there any chance we can take this opportunity to make "h"/"H" the
preferred aliases?  Using "'" in bourne-style shells is very
annoying[1], and I suspect it's also creating unnecessary complications
elsewhere.

Alternatives:

- Completely kill "'" (I'd prefer this, but I realize it's complicated
  with descriptors already being used widely).  If "h"/"H" are made the
  preferred aliases, maybe it'd be enough to make implementing "'" a
  SHOULD rather than a MUST; this would push implementations towards
  displaying descriptors using the h versions for maximum compatibility.

- Calculate the checksum over s/(h|H)/'/ (again, I know that's
  complicated with descriptors already widely used)

Thanks,

-Dave

[1] https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/15740#issuecomment-695815432