Ancestor Package Relay

The five-minute read

One action, walked through

1. Open BIP 331 and read the status line before the examples.
2. Write down the rule in one sentence. A fair version of that sentence is: Peer-to-peer protocol messages enabling nodes to request and relay the unconfirmed ancestor package of a given transaction, and to request and relay transactions in batches.
3. Name the object that changes: no_package_info.
4. Ask what an old client, an old contract, or an offline counterparty does. If the document is silent, the silence is part of the design.

The argument, unpacked

What has to be true

• You are implementing BIP 331 at the status the text itself states: Draft.
• The object that has to change is no_package_info. A neighbouring document with a similar name is not this one.
• Measurements of delay in one year do not travel with the specification.

What happened after the paper

The source marks this draft. It is not a live consensus rule just because it has a number. Later documents can narrow, replace, or ignore this one. Cite the number you mean.

What to check before you use the idea

• Which message does Ancestor Package Relay add, and which old peer must still be answered?
• What does a node do when the short form fails and the full object is required?
• Which names are normative: no_package_info?

Terms

BIP 331

The public text titled Ancestor Package Relay.

Draft

The document's own label for how finished the text is. It is not a market fact.

The problem the paper names

A node that cannot fetch, filter, or relay the data it is supposed to validate is not a peer of the network the paper describes.

What the design proposes

• Peer-to-peer protocol messages enabling nodes to request and relay the unconfirmed ancestor package of a given transaction, and to request and relay transactions in batches.
• Ancestor Package Relay includes two parts: a package information round and a transaction data download round.
• The package information round is used to help a receiver learn what transactions are in a package and decide whether they want to download them.

How the mechanism is specified

• Taken from the specification, the next constraint is: Ancestor Package Relay includes two parts: a package information round and a transaction data download round.
• Locate no_package_info in BIP 331 and apply it to one transaction or call.
• Then check the failure the class of rule always has: a node that did not upgrade, a reverted call, a replayed signature, or a peer that does not speak the message.

What this page does not treat as proven

• A peer protocol is not a consensus rule. A peer can disconnect. A block is still valid or not on its own.
• Measurements of delay in one year do not travel with the specification.
• The source marks this draft. It is not a live consensus rule just because it has a number.

Why a venture studio still reads it

Use BIP 331 when a pitch says 'Ancestor Package Relay' without saying whether the rule is consensus, policy, or an interface. The number is the citation. The pitch is not.