On 25 May 2013 10:53, Luke-Jr <luke@dashjr.org> wrote:

> On Saturday, May 25, 2013 8:25:35 AM Melvin Carvalho wrote:
> > It might be an idea to have 'rule change' fixes and 'bug fix' releases go
> > out separately
>
> Bitcoin is a consensus system. You can't run clients with different rules
> on
> the same blockchain/network - it just won't work! Maybe we're now talking
> about mere client default policies? In which case, you should be able to
> configure previous behaviour...
>

[[ Not wishing to stray too far off topic ]]

I think you are perhaps underestimating the effect of 'mere' default
policies.

It would be nice to think that every node was a free thinking individual
that is motivated to vote with their feet, but in practice most people dont
have time.

There is research showing that 80% of users tend to accept defaults.

Rule changes and changing defaults would seem to be things worth weighing.
Bug fixes hopefully should be fairly unanimous.  Of course a grey area
exists in between.


>
> If you want just bug fixes and rule changes, without policy default
> changes,
> new features, etc, you can use the 0.4.x - 0.7.x backports. But be advised
> these are short-term solutions and won't be maintained forever - so you
> really
> should try to get the behaviour you want from the current release. If you
> can't for some reason, please do report a bug explaining what it is the
> older
> version was capable of that the new one isn't!
>
> Luke
>