The technical document intended to provide the definitive rules for all computers running the ethereum software is in the process of becoming obsolete.

Called the Yellow Book, the document is what ethereum developers use as a reference when coding, and what customers expect to stay on the same page with the network (without, say, creating bugs that could break it).

However, no changes have been made to the document for more than a year, which has put a strain on efforts to increase the capacity of the second largest blockchain in the world according to the value Merchant.

Instead of a clear guide, developers need to rely on a "community consensus" to make sure things work properly, said base developer Nick Johnson at the time. recent meeting. And as the network is struggling to keep up with the adoption (see: popularity of CryptoKitties), the urgency of adapting its code to ethereum may have never been so blatant.

Speaking of possible solutions to network congestion, new attention is given to perceived problems with the Yellow Book.

The frustration is that the consensus bugs that emerged in the preparation of the recent upgrade of the ethereum hard fork – called Byzance – could have been mitigated with a more accurate customer reference point.

As Johnson said at the meeting:

"If you want to build something that can synchronize the chain before the current hard range, then you're out of luck: you have to pull out bad information, and there is no formal specification for this other than the old versions of the Yellow Book. "

Too much math

One of the problems with the current Yellow Book is that it is expressed in mathematical notation, although many developers prefer a specific programming language.

For this reason, it has long been criticized as an unwelcoming starting point for newcomer ethereal. Lead developer Piper Merriam, speaking at the meeting, simply stated that, arguing that the Yellow Book, as it is written today, severely limits the number of people who can participate to the development of the ethereum.

"What this means is the possibility of turning the specifications into mathematical notation, which I am not an expert, and I have a degree in mathematics," he said. said.

Johnson also rejected the document, calling it "obscurantist and hard to read" and a "resource description bad."

On the phone with CoinDesk, he added: " Very few people are very familiar with the notation used by the Yellow Book to make significant changes."

Currently, developers are pointing to another document, KEVM, written in the K programming language, as a possible contemporary specification for ethereum.

While the discussions are yet to formally start with the current authors of the specification, Johnson has described it as a "promising way forward."

Johnson concluded:

" What I would like to see is a more accessible, yet well-defined and comprehensive specification, which covers everything you need to build a new client ethereum from scratch." "

The porter

But until then, the document remains obsolete, and despite the decentralized nature of the ethereum network, any update must go through an individual.

This is because in its current state, the Yellow Book is unlicensed software – which means that its editorial rights are diverted to the author of the list.

Specifically, it is Dr. Gavin Wood, founder of Parity Technologies and co-founder of Ethereum. Because he's the only author on the list, this makes him the key authority in his current state – but his efforts to improve the document seem to have come in jerks.

Earlier this year, Wood updated the document, but soon after, came back to the version of available in 2016. At a meeting of developers in March, Yoichi Hirai, an engineer from the Ethereum Foundation , said Wood had only backed up to try to fix the errors before merging an update.

Since then, however, the Yellow Book has not seen any significant updates.

Since there are a total of 29 people who contributed to the newspaper over time, Hirai, who led the majority of attempts at changes in the Yellow Book filing, said: "Legally, Is a great mix of people. "

Speaking at last week's meeting, he added:

"In its current status, it is very dangerous."

Wood did not respond to several requests for comments.

Politics of equality?

Wood's role in any delay is less clear, a problem magnified by the fact that his departure from the Ethereum Foundation has long been marked by conspiracy theories.

The amplification of perceived problems is that some people think that the negative press of the ethereum this year is back to Wood. For example, the hacking of 150,000 July ether (worth $ 30 million at the time) was due to a problem with the Parity portfolios, as did the recent freeze of funds by which a new coder has "accidentally" triggered the blocking of $ 275 million.

In addition, Wood has blocked efforts to change documentation in the past, according to Merriam, who pointed to Wood's former CPP Ethereum project.

In order to encourage "the widest possible adoption of etheric" last year, a copyright change was suggested for CPP Ethereum – announced as a way to legally render possible external projects, such as Hyperledger, to implement unambiguous code for licenses.

That said, others believe that this may simply be a sign of the rapid development of technology.

"I know that people have contacted Gavin [Wood] about this issue, and he has not acted yet," said Hudson Jameson, former communications officer of the Ethereum Foundation, during the meeting. meeting

.

Johnson, too, in an interview with CoinDesk, said that any attempt to suggest that there is discord among developers is not exactly accurate.

"On the basis of my own problems on a smaller scale, I would say that there is a great chance that he is just busy and that he is not going to not busy, I do not think there's any malicious intent out there. "

For Johnson, the problems are just one sign that a better solution is needed.

He concluded:

"I think we need a more decentralized process to handle the official standard."

Parchment image by Shutterstock

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