Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] BIP Process and Votes

From: Milly Bitcoin <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Jun 2015 22:34:43 -0400

I'm sorry but that is the kind of defensive, cultish response everyone 
gets when they ask that question.  If you had a well constructed 
documented process then you would be able to point to it ... but you 
can't.  While there are a few bits and pieces scattered  about in 
different places there is no coherent plan or process.

It is easy to make statements like "consensus must be unanimous" but the 
issue is that you never have true 100% consensus yet you have to move 
forward in some fashion and everyone has to run software with the same 
consensus rules.  The issue is how you move forward is the question that 
nobody wants to answer because (a) it is a hard question to answer and 
(b) developers see it as a threat to their authority/position.  If 
people just keep shutting down the discussion with a bunch of cultish 
stock answers then you are never going to move forward with developing 
some kind of process.

 From what I can see much of the discussion is personality-driven and 
not based on Computer Science or and defined process.  The issue is that 
a personality has changed so the process is perceived to be different 
and some people want to hard fork. Previously, the cultish answer is 
that Bitcoin development is decentralized because people can fork the 
code.  Now that some developers want to fork the code suddenly it is a 
big problem. Is forking the code part of the consensus process or is it 
the work of the devil?   The fact that there is so much diverse opinion 
on this shows a defined process has never been fully vetted or understood.

I have worked on these processes for many years for projects orders of 
magnitudes larger than Bitcoin.  I can absolutely assure you the current 
mishmash does not scale and huge amounts of time are wasted.  That 
should be readily apparent from the recent discussions and the recent 
concern it has caused from people outside the developer's inner circle.

Lack of defined process = high risk and wasted effort.

Russ

On 6/24/2015 9:50 PM, Mark Friedenbach wrote:
> I'm sorry but this is absolutely not the case, Milly. The reason that 
> people get defensive is that we have a carefully constructed process 
> that does work (thank you very much!) and is well documented. We talk 
> about it quite often in fact as it is a defining characteristic of how 
> bitcoin is developed which differs in some ways from how other open 
> source software is developed -- although it remains the same in most 
> other ways.
>
> Changes to the non-consensus sections of Bitcoin Core tend to get 
> merged when there are a few reviews, tests, and ACKs from recognized 
> developers, there are no outstanding objections, and the maintainer 
> doing the merge makes a subjective judgement that the code is ready.
>
> Consensus-changes, on the other hand, get merged into Bitcoin Core 
> only after the above criteria are met AND an extremely long discussion 
> period that has given all the relevant stakeholders a chance to 
> comment, and no significant objections remain. Consensus-code changes 
> are unanimous. They must be.
>
> The sort of process that exists in standards bodies for example, with 
> working groups and formal voting procedures, has no place where 
> changes define the nature and validity of other people's money. Who 
> has the right to reach into your pocket and define how you can or 
> cannot spend your coins? The premise of bitcoin is that no one has 
> that right, yet that is very much what we do when consensus code 
> changes are made. That is why when we make a change to the rules 
> governing the nature of bitcoin, we must make sure that everyone is 
> made aware of the change and consents to it.
>
> Everyone. Does this work? Does this scale? So far, it does. 
> Uncontroversial changes, such as BIP 66, are deployed without issue. 
> Every indication is that BIP 66 will complete deployment in the very 
> near future, and we intend to repeat this process for more interesting 
> changes such as BIP65: CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY.
>
> This isn't about no one stepping forward to be the "decider." This is 
> about no one having the right to decide these things on the behalf of 
> others. If a contentious change is proposed and not accepted by the 
> process of consensus, that is because the process is doing its job at 
> rejecting controversial changes. It has nothing to do with 
> personality, and everything to do with the nature of bitcoin itself.
>
>
> On Wed, Jun 24, 2015 at 5:07 PM, Milly Bitcoin <[email-masked] 
> <mailto:[email-masked]>> wrote:
>
>     I have seen this question asked many times.  Most developers
>     become defensive and they usually give a very vague 1-sentence
>     answer when this question is asked.  It seems to be it is based on
>     personalities rather than any kind of definable process.  To have
>     that discussion the personalities must be separated out and
>     answers like "such-and-such wouldn't do that" don't really do much
>     to advance the discussion.  Also, the incentive for new developers
>     to come in is that they will be paid by companies who want to
>     influence the code and this should be considered (some developers
>     take this statement as an insult when it is just a statement of
>     the incentive process).
>
>     The other problem you are having is the lead developer does not
>     want to be a "decider" when, in fact, he is a very significant
>     decider.  While the users have the ultimate choice in a practical
>     sense the chief developer is the "decider."  Now people don't want
>     to get him upset so nobody wants to push the issue or fully define
>     the process. Now you are left with a broken, unwritten/unspoken
>     process.  While this type of thing may work with a small group of
>     developers businesses/investors looking in from the outside will
>     see this as a risk.
>
>     Until you get passed all the personality-based arguments you are
>     going to have a tough time defining a real process.
>
>     Russ
>
>
>
>
>
>
>     On 6/24/2015 7:41 PM, Raystonn wrote:
>
>         I would like to start a civil discussion on an undefined, or
>         at least unwritten, portion of the BIP process.  Who should
>         get to vote on approval to commit a BIP implementation into
>         Bitcoin Core?  Is a simple majority of these voters sufficient
>         for approval?  If not, then what is?
>
>         Raystonn
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