Re: Rippled released

On 26 September 2013 13:11, Melvin Carvalho <melvincarvalho@gmail.com>wrote:

> I only just noticed this:
>
> https://github.com/ripple/rippled
>
> So does this mean that ripple (server) is now fully open sourced?
>


Official announcement:

https://ripple.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3718&p=18013#p18013

[[

Hey all!

It's my great pleasure to announce the release of the rippled p2p node
source-code, the code that implements the Ripple protocol and powers the
Ripple payment network. In conjunction with the open-sourcing we're also
announcing that OpenCoin Inc. will change its name to Ripple Labs Inc. That
latter part is mostly because the old name was confusing and required
explanation. We hope the new name is a bit more self-explanatory - we're
the place that Ripple came out of and we'll continue to experiment with and
develop Ripple technology.

For those of you who are less technical, the significance of our
announcement is that Ripple is not another altcoin. All the protocols and
data formats have evolved independently of Bitcoin. Our
consensus<https://ripple.com/wiki/Consensus>process uses peering
(kinda like the Internet itself) instead of mining.
The ledger is a data structure that describes the current state of the
network as a merkle tree (this has the same effect as the merkle tree of
unspent outputs <https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=21995.0> proposals
that have come up within the Bitcoin community.) The time between ledgers
is adaptive <https://ripple.com/wiki/Continuous_Ledger_Close> rather than
fixed. The current implementation supports holding deposit contracts -
balances representating currencies other than the native currency. And we
support the trading of these currencies in the network - as one atomic
transaction, even across multiple conversions. The Ripple ledger is a
general purpose data store and we plan to enable you to program the network
freely via contracts<https://ripple.com/wiki/User:Justmoon/Contracts:_Overview>
.

It feels weird that it falls upon me to announce the open-sourcing of this
code, since aside from a tiny fix here or there I wrote none of it. But I
have worked closely with the people who did and they have completely
changed my perspective on what's possible. I remember promoting Bitcoin to
blank stares three years ago and now talking to bitcoiners about Ripple I
often feel the same way. I hope that over the next year, starting from
today, we can change that - and you'll be able to see Ripple as we do.

I want to address a few questions that I know will come up:

1. Forks

People will fork the network pretty much instantly (as soon as they can
figure out our config files [image: :D]), so does that worry me re: job
security? Of course. But that's the whole point of open-sourcing: It's one
thing we can do to help keep us honest. I believe as long as we continue to
live up to our promises, work hard and provide value to users, they will
continue to use our network. And in doing so they're supporting our effort
to build out the software and extend the network through any and all means
available until all XRP are sold or given away.

I don't believe in closed-source, I don't believe in copyright, but I do
believe in supporting the artists, the developers and entrepreneurs who
make things happen. We have a growing team of people with big ideas and
ambitious plans. So please consider using the original network so we can
continue to develop amazing features and integrate every payment system on
the face of the planet.

One final request for those planning to fork: If you do fork, please come
up with a unique name for your network and a different currency code than
XRP. A little search and replace won't kill you and you'll make life a lot
easier and less confusing for both our users and your own.


2. Decentralization

Whether the code is open-source or not has nothing to do with whether
Ripple is decentralized or not. As far as the original network is concerned
we will continue to recommend our own validators for the time being.
Running the core group of validators lets us close security holes much more
quickly, which is very important at least until major feature development
is completed. The last of these major features left is contracts.

So to recap, the general plan is to focus on contracts next and once their
API is reasonably stable focus on building out the tools and testing needed
to move to a fully distributed network topology.

That said, we do encourage interested parties to start running validators
immediately - this is your chance to build a history and reputation as a
reliable validator so people will later be more likely to add you to their
UNLs <https://ripple.com/wiki/UNL>.


3. Bugs

There will be bugs. If they are security-critical, please consider
responsible disclosure through bugs@ripple.com. We also have a bounty
program <https://ripple.com/bug-bounty/> for critical bugs.

------------------------------------------------------------

Alright, that leaves only one thing.

https://github.com/ripple/rippled/

Go nuts.

------------------------------------------------------------

Cheers,

Stefan Thomas
CTO, Ripple Labs Inc.

]]