Segwit2x Developer Says November Hard Fork is Full Steam Ahead

The Segwit2x working group has been quiet lately, but now it seems the development wheels are turning once again. On Wednesday, October 25 the lead developer of the Segwit2x (BTC1) working group, Jeff Garzik, addressed the public with a status update. According to Garzik, everything is “still full steam ahead for Segwit2x upgrade” scheduled for mid-November.

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Segwit2x Upgrade is “Full Steam Ahead”

The maintainer of the Segwit2x code, Jeff Garzik has revealed an October “status update” to the development community through the Linux mailing list. The last time Garzik greeted the public was back in August when the Segregated Witness (Segwit) protocol was applied to the Bitcoin network. Like the previous time, Garzik’s email seems upbeat and cuts to the formalities right away with the developer stating:  

To state the obvious, everything is still full steam ahead for the Segwit2x upgrade in mid-November.

Garzik notes that back in August the project was in a “code freeze” and emphasizes the BTC1 repository is currently still enforcing the freeze. A code freeze basically means that changes made to the source code have a stricter degree of rule sets. As Garzik states “only changes or fixes thought to be important pre-fork will be included.”

Segwit2x Will Stay on Bitcoin Core Version 14 Through the November Fork Due to Version 15 Bugs

The developer also explains the BTC1 source code is a fork of the Core software, and the team tracks that repository’s updates. Additionally, Garzik gives a link to the production release branch and explains that specific Segwit2x code is based on Core version 0.14.x, and the developer release is associated with version 0.15.x.

“I’ve been paying close attention to the Bitcoin Core 0.15.x rollout,” explains Garzik. Based on instability and bugs that upstream Bitcoin Core project is seeing – ie. Core’s bugs, not ours – Segwit2x will stay on Bitcoin Core 0.14.x. through the November fork.”  

This is the most stable path for users, based on upstream Bitcoin Core instability. In short, we do not feel that Bitcoin Core bugs and instability will impact our project in the short term, because this is not yet in a Segwit2x production release on a production branch.

Who Will Run the BTC1 Codebase Post-Fork?

Following Garzik’s Linux mailing list update the co-founder of Suredbits, Chris Stewart, asked about the new project Garzik is working on called Metronome. “Has there been any thought to who will be maintaining B2X after the chain split is completed?” Stewart asks. Stewart then implies that Jeff may be committing most of his time to the Metronome project now, and asks if the BTC1 codebase will be abandoned after the fork.

Garzik explains Metronome is an off-topic subject and his firm Bloq has many team members that are involved with that particular project. All of his company’s team members have side projects and operate them simultaneously, the BTC1 developer details. Garzik then details his company Bloq Enterprise v1 will concentrate on “bitcoin-only,” while Bloq Enterprise v2 will focus on multi-chain executions with coins like litecoin and bitcoin cash. After the fork, the BTC1 codebase will be like a “Fedora for Bitcoin” (community supported Linux project).     

“Very exciting stuff and a useful way to risk adjust versus Bitcoin Core instability or feature selection — Several BTC1 members have proposed new BTC1 changes for post-fork, large and small,” Garzik adds.

What do you think about the Segwit2x October status update? Do you think the bitcoin blockchain will split come mid-November? How do you envision the post-fork scenario? Let us know in the comments below.

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