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Newsletters: add 118 (2020-10-07)#471

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bitschmidty merged 3 commits into
bitcoinops:masterfrom
harding:2020-10-07-newsletter
Oct 7, 2020
Merged

Newsletters: add 118 (2020-10-07)#471
bitschmidty merged 3 commits into
bitcoinops:masterfrom
harding:2020-10-07-newsletter

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@harding

@harding harding commented Oct 4, 2020

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  • Update releases/RCs Tuesday @harding
  • Bitcoin Core #19898 log: print unexpected version warning in validation log category @jonatack
  • Bitcoin Core #15367 feature: Added ability for users to add a startup command @dongcarl

@hebasto

hebasto commented Oct 4, 2020

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I was pointed at this pull by @jonatack :)

Wrt mentioned bitcoin/bitcoin#19991 I'd like to note that in Bitcoin Core repo the "onion service" term is preferred to "hidden service". Details: bitcoin/bitcoin#19638

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Excellent newsletter @harding! All links checked out.

signing that would use a technique called virtual transactions. The
first virtual transaction would be deliberately invalid by
attempting to spend from a non-existent previous transaction (one
who's txid was all zeroes). This first transaction pays the address

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s/who's/whose/

The advantage to using virtual transactions, which were also adopted
in the [BIP325][] specification for [signet][topic signet] (see
[Newsletter #109][news109 signet bip]), is that they may work with
existing software that's willing to sign arbitrary transactions,

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maybe s/willing/able/ (though perhaps the soul of the machine means that software can be willing ;)


- **Brief discussion about merging taproot in Bitcoin Core:** this
week's Bitcoin Core Developer Meeting included a [brief discussion][meeting
taproot] about whether the main taproot implementation ([PR

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as the implementation PR changed recently, perhaps:

(currently PR #19953)

week's Bitcoin Core Developer Meeting included a [brief discussion][meeting
taproot] about whether the main taproot implementation ([PR
#19953][bitcoin core #19953]) should be merged in the next couple
weeks before the version 0.21 code is scheduled to be branched off,

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maybe s/branch-off/feature freeze/ (I'm guessing you simplified it for the reader, but since FF is mentioned in the next paragraph it may be fine to say it here)

#19953][bitcoin core #19953]) should be merged in the next couple
weeks before the version 0.21 code is scheduled to be branched off,
whether it should be merged into the development branch shortly after
the branch off, or whether there should be no special ordering. All

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s/branch off/branch-off/ (see also release-notes.md)

- [Bitcoin Core #15367][] feature: Added ability for users to add a startup command FIXME:dongcarl

- [Bitcoin Core #19723][] ignores unknown P2P protocol messages sent
before the `verack` (version acknowledgment) message. This allows a

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maybe something like "message, rather than considering them as peer misbehavior" to make the change from previous behavior more clear (like in line 125 below)

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Yes, I think something like this is needed. The change in n19723 allows future nodes to use the pre-verack feature negotiation method in a backwards-compatible way (i.e. that future node can send feature negotiation messages without being disconnected from old peers).

- [Bitcoin Core #19725][] updates the `getpeerinfo` RPC. Its results
now return a new `connection_type` field that indicates the
reason the node either opened that connection to an outbound peer or
accepted in inbound connection from the peer. The existing `addnode`

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s/in/an/

notification.

- [Bitcoin Core #19501][] updates the `sendtoaddress` and `sendmany`
RPCs with a new optional `verbose` parameter that will return what

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s/will return/returns/ (present tense as seen in the other PR summaries)

idem in line 134

- [Eclair #1528][] allows plugins (see [Newsletter #43][news43
eclair plugins]) to register new features and message types. The
features will be advertised to peers and potential peers, and any
messages using a registered message types will be routed to the appropriate

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s/types/type/ or omit "a"

Comment thread _posts/en/newsletters/2020-10-07-newsletter.md

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A few small style comments (I see some overlap with Jon's that I didn't see before submitting)

The only thing that stood out was the IRC discussion section about whether to merge taproot. I'm -0.5 on this as I worry that it signals that taproot will be merged in the next 10 days (yes, I know you stressed that isn't the case in the write-up). I just worry that optimism of this kind has the potential to add more pressure to a review process without much margin for error.

Comment on lines +108 to +109
messages identifying any special features it supports, and then its
`verack` message indicating it has received the remote node's

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Suggest two sentences here.

Suggested change
messages identifying any special features it supports, and then its
`verack` message indicating it has received the remote node's
messages identifying any special features it supports. Its
`verack` message then indicates it has received the remote node's

Comment on lines +130 to +128
mechanism was used to select the transaction's feerate, such as
whether the user manually selected the feerate, an appropriate feerate

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Another long sentence that could be broken into two:

Suggested change
mechanism was used to select the transaction's feerate, such as
whether the user manually selected the feerate, an appropriate feerate
mechanism was used to select the transaction's feerate. Common use cases might
include whether the user manually selected the feerate, an appropriate feerate

- [Eclair #1528][] allows plugins (see [Newsletter #43][news43
eclair plugins]) to register new features and message types. The
features will be advertised to peers and potential peers, and any
messages using a registered message types will be routed to the appropriate

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Suggested change
messages using a registered message types will be routed to the appropriate
messages using registered message types will be routed to the appropriate

that peer, it routes the payment by whichever channel has the least
amount of remaining bitcoin value. This means attackers will end up
jamming low-value channels before high-value channels. This doesn't
eliminate the attack but it does mean an attacker will need more

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Suggested change
eliminate the attack but it does mean an attacker will need more
eliminate the attack, but it does mean an attacker will need more

jamming attacks. When a node receives a payment it's supposed to
route to one of its peers, and it has two or more channels open to
that peer, it routes the payment by whichever channel has the least
amount of remaining bitcoin value. This means attackers will end up

@adamjonas adamjonas Oct 5, 2020

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This sentence is a little hard to read... I tried to clarify:

Suggested change
jamming attacks. When a node receives a payment it's supposed to
route to one of its peers, and it has two or more channels open to
that peer, it routes the payment by whichever channel has the least
amount of remaining bitcoin value. This means attackers will end up
jamming attacks. When a node receives a payment that it's supposed
to route to a peer connected by two or more open channels, it routes
the payment by whichever channel has the least amount of remaining
bitcoin value. This means attackers will end up

included onchain because it spends from an invalid previous
transaction).

The advantage to using virtual transactions, which were also adopted

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Suggested change
The advantage to using virtual transactions, which were also adopted
The advantage of using virtual transactions, which were also adopted

@harding

harding commented Oct 5, 2020

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@adamjonas

I'm -0.5 on this as I worry that it signals that taproot will be merged in the next 10 days

I have the same concern and it didn't turn out to be as useful a section as I hoped (I was hoping it would encourage people to do final reviews---both the people who committed in the meeting and anyone else who wanted to review). I'll leave it in for now and make a decision about keeping/removing it tomorrow (Tuesday) to see if anyone else has an opinion.

@jonatack

jonatack commented Oct 5, 2020

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I have the same concern and it didn't turn out to be as useful a section as I hoped (I was hoping it would encourage people to do final reviews

Maybe too early to know. (I'm planning on finishing reviewing at the latest this weekend). In any case, this newletter seems an ideal date to publish it, if the goal is to stimulate a final review push.

Comment thread _posts/en/newsletters/2020-10-07-newsletter.md Outdated
whether the user manually selected the feerate, an appropriate feerate
was automatically selected, or the configured fallback feerate was used.

- [Bitcoin Core #20003][] will result in the program immediately exiting

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s/the program/bitcoind

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I say "the program" here because you can run Bitcoin Core under several names (bitcoind, bitcoin-qt, bitcoin-node (with certain --configure options), bitcoin-core (in the Snap), etc...). No matter which name you use, the --proxy behavior described here should apply.

@bitschmidty

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Newsletter looks good so far. I dont not have a strong opinion on the taproot messaging.

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Looks good harding. Just a couple of small comments inline.

I'd lean towards removing the taproot merge section. It doesn't feel newsworthy that developers are prioritizing reviewing a particular PR (even though the historic comparison to segwit is interesting)

Comment thread _posts/en/newsletters/2020-10-07-newsletter.md Outdated
- [Bitcoin Core #15367][] feature: Added ability for users to add a startup command FIXME:dongcarl

- [Bitcoin Core #19723][] ignores unknown P2P protocol messages sent
before the `verack` (version acknowledgment) message. This allows a

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Yes, I think something like this is needed. The change in n19723 allows future nodes to use the pre-verack feature negotiation method in a backwards-compatible way (i.e. that future node can send feature negotiation messages without being disconnected from old peers).

@harding

harding commented Oct 6, 2020

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Removed the taproot bullet per discussion above and made most other suggested edits. Thanks for the reviews!


- [Bitcoin Core #15367][] adds a `-startupnotify` configuration parameter that accepts
a shell command to be executed after Bitcoin Core has finished its
initialization and is ready to handle requests on enabled interfaces (ZMQ,

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minor point: the ZMQ interface doesn't service requests, it only serves notifications.

@jnewbery

jnewbery commented Oct 6, 2020

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One minor comment on the Bitcoin Core 15367 write-up. Otherwise all looks good!

signing that would use a technique called virtual transactions. The
first virtual transaction would be deliberately invalid by
attempting to spend from a non-existent previous transaction (one
whose txid was all zeroes). This first transaction pays the address

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s/was/is

not sure...?

@murchandamus

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Changes look good to me, no further comments.

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19898 write-up looks great. Just one minor comment.

log to be printed only when the validation log category is set, rather than
unconditionally. Originally designed to alarm users that miners and users
might be coordinating a soft fork activation using BIP9 versionbits, these
frequent warnings had become spurious and were both unactionable and the

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'a source' sounds marginally better to me than 'the source'

@adamjonas

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Light rescan ACK. Nothing to add besides what's already been mentioned.

@harding

harding commented Oct 6, 2020

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Pushed (hopefully) final edits. Thanks everyone for the contributions and reviews!

No releases/RC changes.

@bitschmidty bitschmidty force-pushed the 2020-10-07-newsletter branch from 5005843 to c81aef1 Compare October 7, 2020 12:18
@bitschmidty bitschmidty merged commit 96fe20b into bitcoinops:master Oct 7, 2020
@bitschmidty

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Added a small commit to tweak the intro summary text. Squashed and merged.

🙏 @harding @dongcarl @jonatack for ✍️
🙌 @jonatack @hebasto @jnewbery @MaxHillebrand for 🕵️

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8 participants