Newsletters: add #12 (2018-09-11)

_includes/references.md

@@ -40,6 +40,12 @@
 [newsletter #8]: {{news8}}
 {% assign news9 = "/en/newsletters/2018/08/21/" %}
 [newsletter #9]: {{news9}}
+{% assign news10 = "/en/newsletters/2018/08/28/" %}
+[newsletter #10]: {{news10}}
+{% assign news11 = "/en/newsletters/2018/09/04/" %}
+[newsletter #11]: {{news11}}
+{% assign news12 = "/en/newsletters/2018/09/11/" %}
+[newsletter #12]: {{news12}}
 
 {% comment %}
 <!--REQUIRES PERIODIC UPDATE: update rpc_version below to latest

_posts/en/newsletters/2018-09-11-newsletter.md

@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+---
+title: 'Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #12'
+permalink: /en/newsletters/2018/09/11/
+name: 2018-09-11-newsletter
+type: newsletter
+layout: newsletter
+lang: en
+---
+This week's newsletter references a discussion about BIP151 encryption
+for the peer-to-peer network protocol, provides an update on
+compatibility between Bitcoin and the W3C Web Payments draft
+specification, and briefly describes some notable merges in popular
+Bitcoin infrastructure projects.
+
+## Action items
+
+{% comment %}<!-- FIXME: this hasn't actually happened yet, but I'm
+expecting it before Tuesday morning -harding -->{% endcomment %}
+
+- **Allocate time to test Bitcoin Core 0.17RC3:** Bitcoin Core has
+  uploaded [binaries][bcc 0.17] for 0.17 Release Candidate (RC) 3.
+  Testing is greatly appreciated and can help ensure the quality of the
+  final release.
+
+## News
+
+- **BIP151 discussion:** as mentioned in [Newsletter #10][news10 news],
+  Jonas Schnelli has [proposed][schnelli bip151] an updated draft of
+  [BIP151][] encryption for the peer-to-peer network protocol.
+  Cryptographer Tim Ruffing provided [constructive criticism][ruffing
+  bip151] of the draft on the Bitcoin-Dev mailing list this week that
+  received also-constructive rebuttals from Schnelli and Gregory
+  Maxwell.  These posts may be interesting reads for anyone wondering
+  why certain cryptographic choices were made in the protocol, such as
+  the use of the NewHope quantum-computing resistant key exchange.
+
+- **W3C Web Payments Working Group update:** Lightning Network developer
+  Christian Decker is a member of this group attempting to create
+  standards for web-based payments.  In a [reply][decker w3c] sent to
+  the Lightning-Dev mailing list, Decker explains why he thinks the
+  current draft specification will be fundamentally compatible with both
+  payments to Bitcoin addresses and Lightning Network payments.  The
+  draft even explicitly allocates the XBT currency code to Bitcoin.
+
+## Notable commits
+
+*Notable commits this week in [Bitcoin Core][core commits], [LND][lnd
+commits], and [C-lightning][cl commits].  Reminder: new merges to
+Bitcoin Core are made to its master development branch and are unlikely
+to become part of the upcoming 0.17 release---you'll probably have to
+wait until version 0.18 in about six months from now.*
+
+{% include linkers/github-log.md 
+  refname="core commits"
+  repo="bitcoin/bitcoin"
+  start="68f3c7eb080e461cfeac37f8db7034fe507241d0"
+  end="cb25cd6aa18c69918176d68e36e26f7e373aa48c"
+%}
+{% include linkers/github-log.md 
+  refname="lnd commits"
+  repo="lightningnetwork/lnd"
+  start="2b448be048daf85cef4cbb37ceed4413fdb051e6"
+  end="1941353fb28755a170793e43595601d75c8f3dda"
+%}
+{% include linkers/github-log.md 
+  refname="cl commits"
+  repo="ElementsProject/lightning"
+  start="77d3ca3ea3ba607e0b08c7921c41bfc0a9658ed2"
+  end="634f19a7b230edc686be56ab950b80784e56252c"
+%}
+
+- [Bitcoin Core #12775][] adds support for RapidCheck (a [QuickCheck][]
+  reimplementation) to Bitcoin Core, providing a property-based testing suite
+  that generates its own tests based on what programmers tell it are the
+  properties of a function (e.g. what it accepts as input and returns
+  as output).
+
+- [Bitcoin Core #12490][] removes the `signrawtransaction` RPC from the
+  master development branch.  This RPC is labeled as deprecated in the
+  upcoming 0.17 release and users are encouraged to use the
+  `signrawtransactionwithkey` RPC when they are providing their own
+  private key for signing or the `signrawtransactionwithwallet` RPC when
+  they want the built-in wallet to automatically provide the private key.
+
+- [Bitcoin Core #14096][] provides [documentation for output script
+  descriptors][] which are used in the new `scantxoutset` RPC in Bitcoin
+  Core 0.17 and are expected to be used for other interactions with the
+  wallet in the future.
+
+- LND made almost 30 merges in the past week, many of which made
+  small enhancements or bugfixes to its autopilot facility---its ability
+  to allow users to choose to automatically open new channels with
+  automatically-selected peers.  Several merges also updated which
+  versions of libraries LND depends upon.
+
+- C-Lightning added several hundred lines of documentation to its
+  repository this week, most of it inline code documentation or updates
+  to files in its [/doc directory][c-lightning docs].
+
+{% include references.md %}
+{% include linkers/issues.md issues="12775,12490,14096" %}
+
+[bcc 0.17]: https://bitcoincore.org/bin/bitcoin-core-0.17.0/
+[documentation for output script descriptors]: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/doc/descriptors.md
+[news10 news]: {{news10}}#news
+[decker w3c]: https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/lightning-dev/2018-August/001404.html
+[schnelli bip151]: https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2018-September/016355.html
+[ruffing bip151]: https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2018-September/016372.html
+[quickcheck]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QuickCheck
+[c-lightning docs]: https://github.com/ElementsProject/lightning/tree/master/doc
+