Adds to the devel reference page detailed documentation on the following
messages: block, getblocks, getdata, getheaders, headers, inv, mempool,
merkleblock, notfound, and tx.
Adds to the devel examples page an example of requesting and parsing a
merkleblock message.
Adds to the devel docs overview pages links to the above two new
P2P sections.
Tweaks the autocrossref plugin ignore pattern to not crossref in the
middle of a GIF image name; this allows the inclusion of animated GIFs.
* Replace current description of the block header with a better
description.
* Describe the various version numbers.
* Describe how the merkle root is constructed.
* Describe how nBits is parsed and how to correctly create it to
avoid negative values.
* Describe the serialized block format used to calculate max block size.
Based on a suggestion made by @petertodd to the -devel mailing list and
the discussion in that thread by him and other participants.
* We've been using the term "consensus", but this commit introduces a
formal definition for it and "consensus rules" as part of the block
chain introduction.
* Describe that consensus rules may change and may happen when they
do: hard or soft forks.
* Describe how full nodes can detect hard or soft forks, then describe
how SPV clients can detect hard and soft forks using the more limited
information available to them.
* Replace previous TX Overview image with a simplified illustration.
The previous overview image was commented out in pull #566 / commit
6afc683. New image incorporates suggestions by @saivann (thanks!)
* Add new illustration showing the specifics of outputs and inputs (and
how they're related). This replaces most of the detail lost by using a
simplified overview image
* Add two short paragraphs briefly describing the ouput and input
features, leading into the existing detailed P2PKH description
This modifies commits provided by @petertodd to use the terms "pubkey
script" and "signature script" instead of other terms.
* Rename "scriptPubKey" and "output script" to "pubkey script"
(suggested by @luke-jr). We leave a token "scriptPubKey" at the point
where we define pubkey script so that searchers can find it.
* Rename "scriptSig" to "signature script" (suggested by @luke-jr). We
also leave a token "scriptSig" at this definition point.
* Rename "redeemScript" to "redeem script"
* Defined ECDSA on secp256k1 curve as the crypto used in the Transaction
section and added references to secp256k1 private/public keys and
signatures.
* Removed "The Parts Of A Transaction" illustration by commenting it out
in the HTML. Shoehorning the pubkey/signature script terms into this
image was becoming difficult, and I'm not very fond of that
illustration anyway. I'll see if I can think of a nicer replacement
illustration for some point in the future.
* Add a short paraphrased version @petertodd's description of scripts as
generalized crypto.
* Updated all the illustrations which referred to either pubkey scripts
or signature scripts to use these terms.
