On Sat, Jun 16, 2012 at 4:42 AM, Wladimir <laa...@gmail.com> wrote: > Which is a perfectly reasonable requirement. However, one could simply > standardize what a 'thin client' and what a 'thick client' does and offers > (at a certain version level), without having to explicitly enumerate > everything over the protocol. > > This also makes it easier to deprecate (lack of) certain features later on. > You can simply drop support for protocol versions before a certain number > (which has happened before). With the extension system this is much harder, > which likely means you keep certain workarounds forever. > > Letting the node know of each others capabilities at connection time helps > somewhat. It'd allow refusing clients that do not implement a certain > feature. Then again, to me it's unclear what this wins compared to > incremental protocol versions with clear requirements. > > I'm just afraid that the currently simple P2P protocol will turn into a zoo > of complicated (and potentially buggy/insecure) interactions.
What is missing here is some perspective on the current situation. It is -very- easy to make a protocol change and bump PROTOCOL_VERSION in the Satoshi client. But for anyone maintaining a non-Satoshi codebase, the P2P protocol is already filled with all sorts of magic numbers, arbitrarily versioned binary data structures.. already an unfriendly zoo of complicated and potentially buggy interactions. There is scant, incomplete documentation on the wiki -- the Satoshi source code is really the only true reference. I see these problems personally, trying to keep ArtForz' half-a-node running on mainnet (distributed as 'blkmond' with pushpool). In an era of HTTP and JSON, NFS and iSCSI, bitcoin's P2P protocol is woefully backwards, fragile, limited and inflexible when it comes to parameter/extension exchange and negotiation. Even iSCSI, that which is implemented on hard drive firmware, has the ability to exchange key=value parameters between local and remote sides of the RPC connection. Calling the current P2P protocol "simple" belies all the implementation details you absolutely -must- get right, to run on mainnet today. Satoshi client devs almost never see the fragility and complexity inherent in the current legacy codebase, built up over time. -- Jeff Garzik exMULTI, Inc. jgar...@exmulti.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _______________________________________________ Bitcoin-development mailing list Bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bitcoin-development