[bitcoin-dev] Yesterday's Taproot activation meeting on IRC

[Michael Folkson <michaelfolkson@gmail.com>]

Yesterday there was a Taproot activation meeting on the
##taproot-activation Freenode channel.

The agenda was posted in advance to the mailing list by BitcoinMechanic.
https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2021-April/018769.html

The conversation log is here:
http://gnusha.org/taproot-activation/2021-04-13.log

Discussion focused on an alternative release to Bitcoin Core with the
naming of the release not yet finalized. Some participants expressed
concern of having "Bitcoin Core" in the name e.g. "Bitcoin Core +
Taproot" as it would be confusing to users and give them the mistaken
impression that it had been signed off by Bitcoin Core maintainers.

The activation mechanism(s) for this alternative release is Speedy
Trial (BIP 8, consistent use of block height) followed by BIP 8 (1
year, LOT=true). The BIP 8 (1 year, LOT=true) is only started assuming
Taproot hasn't activated during the Speedy Trial deployment.

Draft release notes for this alternative release are here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Uhn1SEDMAqQkzkPZ4B5lPTSjUFEXKPndt_oBI4eUm7A/edit?usp=sharing

The GitHub repo for this alternative release is here:
https://github.com/BitcoinActivation/bitcoin

To compare this to the most likely activation mechanism(s) in Bitcoin
Core at this point. If the Core PR #21377 is merged in its current
form then the activation mechanism in Bitcoin Core will be Speedy
Trial (BIP to be decided, mix of block height and MTP). The starttime
and timeout will use MTP and the activation point will use block
height.

The Core PR #21377 is here: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/21377

In addition a BIP PR for the Core release has been opened here with
suggested finalized parameters:
https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/pull/1104

If these plans continue as is Bitcoin Core and this alternative
release won't be entirely compatible due to startheight and timeout
being defined according to MTP and block height respectively. In the
majority of cases they should both activate at the same block height
(or not activate) but there are unlikely edge cases where one
activates and one doesn't (in addition to a possible timewarp attack
on MTP).

The use of MTP in Speedy Trial for Bitcoin Core has been discussed
extensively and reviewers' opinions are summarized here:
https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/21377#issuecomment-818758277

From this point on I will try to stay as neutral as I can and just
summarize the facts to keep this list informed but anyone can review
my past mailing list posts to get my personal views if you are
interested.

As a reminder anyone can host a meeting on the ##taproot-activation
channel. All they need to do is contact me to book a time slot and
ideally post an agenda to this mailing list in advance of the meeting.
That meeting host will have the ability to issue warnings and if
necessary kick participants if the meeting host feels they are
disrupting the meeting or diverting conversation from the agenda.

-- 
Michael Folkson
Email: michaelfolkson@gmail.com
Keybase: michaelfolkson
PGP: 43ED C999 9F85 1D40 EAF4 9835 92D6 0159 214C FEE3