Bitcoin introduces five new BIP editors to streamline the proposal process and improve protocol responsiveness.
Five new Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) editors have been appointed to address the bottleneck in the editing process of BIPs. This initiative marks a historic moment as it is the first time multiple editors will share the responsibility, a role that was solely held by Luke Dashjr for over a decade.
The months-long effort to expand the number of BIP editors was concluded earlier this week, with modifications made to the BIP GitHub by Bitcoin Core contributor Jonatack. Ava Chow, a Bitcoin Core developer, led the nomination process for the new editors. The individuals appointed are Bitcoin developer and Custodia Bank co-founder Bryan Bishop (known as Kanzure), co-hosts of the bitdevs.org mailing list Mark “Murch” Erhardt and Ruben Somsen, Lightning Labs CTO Olaoluwa “Roasbeef” Osuntokun, and developer Jonatack.
"The problem was that Luke was the only BIP editor, which means that he's the only person who could merge anything into the BIP repository. This ranges from almost no effort to a lot of effort, and it just ended up being that Luke didn't have time for this," Chow explained in an interview with CoinDesk.
Bitcoin's open-source development is often praised for its strength and resilience, yet developing, updating, and patching bugs in real-time presents its own set of challenges. BIPs are the standard for proposing nonbinding software updates that may alter the Bitcoin protocol, and previously, the editing process was seen as a bottleneck.
BIP editing involves everything from correcting typos to evaluating proposals, assigning numbers, and providing detailed feedback. The role of the editors is to merge the BIPs into the GitHub repository after careful consideration.
Murch, one of the new editors, emphasized the importance of this process to CoinDesk, stating, "The BIPs repository records concrete ideas for reference. A comprehensive, specific description is indispensable for advancing the distributed conversation about a proposal. I hope that more people volunteering time to sight contributions to the BIPs repository will facilitate more efficient discussions about ideas."
The appointment process, initiated in January upon recommendation by AJ Towns, was considered relatively smooth by Bitcoin's standards. Chow did express some frustration over the pace of the process, noting that the nomination thread went silent for a few weeks.
The impact of the new appointments on Bitcoin development is yet to be fully realized. However, the diversification of the BIP editor role is expected to streamline the improvement proposal process and foster more effective discussions about the future of Bitcoin's protocol.
