
- #BITCOIN CORE SOFTWARE HOW TO#
- #BITCOIN CORE SOFTWARE SOFTWARE#
- #BITCOIN CORE SOFTWARE CODE#
- #BITCOIN CORE SOFTWARE LICENSE#
So one way of thinking about this is to say that the lead developers are leading the parade. And so if the lead developers start behaving in a way that the community doesn't like strongly rejects, the community can go a different direction.

#BITCOIN CORE SOFTWARE SOFTWARE#
On the other hand, because it's open source software, and anybody can copy it and modify it, anybody can fork the software at anytime. These are the people who actually hold the pen that can write things into the defacto rule book of Bitcoin.
#BITCOIN CORE SOFTWARE CODE#
That is, the changes to the code that get shipped in the Bitcoin Core will be followed by default. On the one hand, you could argue that they're powerful because the rule changes. In another sense, they're not all that powerful at all. So how powerful are these people? Well, on the one hand they're very powerful in one sense. So these are the people who are leading the effort to continue development on the Bitcoin Core and who are in charge of which code gets pushed into new versions of the Bitcoin Core. But the other five are currently involved as core developers of the Bitcoin Core Software. We have these six people, maybe arguably five, Satoshi Nakamoto who we'll talk about a little bit later, is not currently active. Now the other group we need to talk about with respect to the Bitcoin Core software are the Core developers.

And so we have a rule book and we have a process for proposing, specifying and talking about rule changes.
#BITCOIN CORE SOFTWARE HOW TO#
But nevertheless, if you have an idea of how to improve Bitcoin, typically you would make a Bitcoin improvement proposal and that would be the process for discussion going forward of proposed rule changes. There are also some BIPs that are purely informational, just to tell people about things that they might not otherwise know, or that are process oriented, that talk about how things should be decided within the bit coin community. Now what I've talked about so far are proposals to change the technology. Each on has a champion, that is sort of an author whose job it is to evangelize in favor of it, to coordinate discussion and to try to build a consensus within the community in favor of going forward with or implementing a particular proposal. And that will then kick off a discussion within the community about what to do. You're encouraged to publish it as part of the Bitcoin improvement proposal series. So if you have an idea about how to improve Bitcoin by making some technical change, you're encouraged to write up one of these documents. And typically, an improvement proposal will include a technical specification for a proposed changed as well as a rationale for it. These are formal proposals for a change to Bitcoin. Another related piece of machinery is Bitcoin Improvement Protocols or BIPs. If you wanna know what's valid in Bitcoin, if you wanna know what the rules are, this is the place to look. In fact, the Bitcoin Core defines the de facto rule book of Bitcoin. So this is the focal point for talking about what the rules are. They look at the parts which check which blocks are valid, and they try to behave in the same way as the core software.

That is they look at the parts that check which transactions are valid. That is people who are building alternate Bitcoin software, typically try to mimic the rule defining parts of the Bitcoin Core software. And even those who don't use it, tend to look to it to define what the rules are. The Bitcoin Core software comprises the most widely used Bitcoin software.
#BITCOIN CORE SOFTWARE LICENSE#
As long as the source is attributed in the license, the MIT license does not script out. It allows the software to be used for almost any purpose. It's licensed under the MIT license which is a very permissive open source license. Bitcoin Core Software is a body of open source software. This is a piece of open source software which is a focal point for discussion of, and debate about Bitcoins rules.

In section 7.2, we'll talk about the Bitcoin Core Software.
