From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from smtp1.linuxfoundation.org (smtp1.linux-foundation.org [172.17.192.35]) by mail.linuxfoundation.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id DD108B94 for ; Thu, 15 Dec 2016 18:48:49 +0000 (UTC) X-Greylist: whitelisted by SQLgrey-1.7.6 Received: from mail-vk0-f44.google.com (mail-vk0-f44.google.com [209.85.213.44]) by smtp1.linuxfoundation.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id C691D1BF for ; Thu, 15 Dec 2016 18:48:48 +0000 (UTC) Received: by mail-vk0-f44.google.com with SMTP id w194so76508550vkw.2 for ; Thu, 15 Dec 2016 10:48:48 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=jtimon-cc.20150623.gappssmtp.com; s=20150623; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:from:date:message-id:subject:to :content-transfer-encoding; bh=XY8m2mdJi1HKx22HqOsi4xCXtAzqiMOKshTcrIWpR6A=; b=viO1aVzM40oQdHtBBWSphK9NfGbnRalq0L9AlItTtPJZPuCfLb8h/acpsS4U3Kdegy LkENOjsWybjDiiteDxQLdQsQbDfD6o316PhDLf5m3PBfZvXUxMKrGYRCb2DbbP+0l0/o WV4fG5CRoA9i21Sjddni4V8hs7d2E/Ou27XnuR2OnVhHgnQ61oZnOoBAQ+KE1S8E6K1r 4K3WTfv+I1Gqzlnut4vlAOhAu9OuxCfIhxsbWHJCFSmit3xkWIBi3V0Yp6wmpOPv2DOa uvuOpVrubOC0UIcoj80I82V4ZrNK9p1oZ9cDVipIlN/SmbIZeXzZqo2N6k5GPhn7Jr8f 5uQA== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:in-reply-to:references:from:date :message-id:subject:to:content-transfer-encoding; bh=XY8m2mdJi1HKx22HqOsi4xCXtAzqiMOKshTcrIWpR6A=; b=uiGGYTQueLkEhLnMGanPcF3LB0tPFkb8NkhYBIbIwjfPufK0kjt8RrOJXqes66haod AT8V8RkB4q9pNjfTkgijd6I7OA4OsMd5vL9carQxzZ0s2Tr+7n4fDVl/5Is6Y9LOmMzU 98rQGLBjSb72GPAZILZGLlldjrVQCVNbanMJf3mt20hhCzPxUPbv4KbNU3Mlw+VsTpwu CGQl4AZ0fgod3LdcYIGacMDnAqhQ4UwjUXOAWmt2U+U4hkAaoFTIri2eMyRMxD3vUYVV mDIxmiwSmgFAHFD5aFoIfChfSpxwE81uawkQKEsQTIUdG12RnEAs/xLtniWpygMJ1PE8 Ftrg== X-Gm-Message-State: AKaTC03KTxvV2wRfeHkDIpj81rxicdtTOoSlCi/dNC9Y0yO6NPJ7Xt8PkLux3qOk+O4zNQm4XVAkLIbAJbmkWA== X-Received: by 10.31.94.84 with SMTP id s81mr2444801vkb.167.1481827727939; Thu, 15 Dec 2016 10:48:47 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.31.137.20 with HTTP; Thu, 15 Dec 2016 10:48:47 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: <615c88d2a1263810923705c170b25d33@112bit.com> References: <615c88d2a1263810923705c170b25d33@112bit.com> From: =?UTF-8?B?Sm9yZ2UgVGltw7Nu?= Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2016 19:48:47 +0100 Message-ID: To: jg@112bit.com, Bitcoin Protocol Discussion Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,DKIM_SIGNED, DKIM_VALID,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham version=3.3.1 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.3.1 (2010-03-16) on smtp1.linux-foundation.org Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] Planned Obsolescence X-BeenThere: bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.12 Precedence: list List-Id: Bitcoin Protocol Discussion List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2016 18:48:50 -0000 On Thu, Dec 15, 2016 at 4:38 AM, Juan Garavaglia via bitcoin-dev wrote: > Older node versions may generate issues because some upgrades will make > several of the nodes running older protocol versions obsolete and or > incompatible. There may be other hard to predict behaviors on older versi= ons > of the client. Hard to predict or not, you can't force people to run newer software. > In order to avoid such wide fragmentation of "Bitcoin Core=E2=80=9D node = versions > and to help there be a more predictable protocol improvement process, I > consider it worth it to analyze introducing some planned obsolescence in > each new version. In the last year we had 4 new versions so if each versi= on > is valid for about 1 year (52560 blocks) this may be a reasonable time fr= ame > for node operators to upgrade. If a node does not upgrade it will stop > working instead of participating in the network with an outdated protocol > version. When you introduce anti-features like this in free software they can be trivially removed and they likely will. > These changes may also simplify the developer's jobs in some cases by > avoiding them having to deal with ancient versions of the client. There's a simpler solution for this which is what is being done now: stop maintaining and giving support for older versions. There's limited resources and developers are rarely interested in fixing bugs for very old versions. Users shouldn't expect things to be backported to old versions (if developers do it and there's enough testing, there's no reason not to do more releases of old versions, it is just rarely the case).