Re: [Bitcoin-development] NODE_EXT_SERVICES and advertising related services

[Mike Hearn <mike@plan99.net>]

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I'd like to see a mechanism whereby a Bitcoin node can delegate processing
of unknown messages to an external process, so a P2P node can be composed
out of separated programs, but such a service would be indistinguishable at
the network layer from one provided by Bitcoin Core itself, so a service
bit would be appropriate for those.

For instance, Insight could then offer a command set that extends the p2p
protocol for doing block explorer type queries. There's no need for the
protocol to be Insight specific.  You'd just have NODE_INDEXED_CHAIN
instead.

Having the service run on some arbitrary other port isn't particularly
useful, IMO - the biggest win from having some separated protocol would be
the ability to use TLS, but if you're connecting to an IP address rather
than a domain name (like if you discovered via service bits/getextsrv) this
doesn't add much. It boils down to minor syntax differences in how numbers
are laid out in a grid. And the performance issue remains.

Additionally, nothing in this spec requires that a local bitcoind be
running. What stops someone from advertising just NODE_EXTENDED_SERVICES
and nothing else? I don't think a generic service advertisement mechanism
is a bad thing to have, by the way, just pointing out that nothing makes
this more focused than service bits already are.

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