November 2021
Intermediate to advanced
464 pages
12h 6m
English
Content preview from Mastering the Lightning Network
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Chapter 4. Lightning Node Software
As we have seen in previous chapters, a Lightning node is a computer system that participates in the Lightning Network. The Lightning Network is not a product or company; it is a set of open standards that define a baseline for interoperability. As such, Lightning node software has been built by a variety of companies and community groups. The vast majority of Lightning software is open source, meaning that the source code is open and licensed in such a way as to enable collaboration, sharing, and community participation in the development process. Similarly, the Lightning node implementations we will present in this chapter are all open source and are collaboratively developed.
Unlike Bitcoin, where the standard is defined by a reference implementation in software (Bitcoin Core), in Lightning the standard is defined by a series of standards documents called Basis of Lightning Technology (BOLT), found at the lightning-rfc repository.
There is no reference implementation of the Lightning Network, but there are several competing, BOLT-compliant, and interoperable implementations developed by different teams and organizations. The teams that develop software for the Lightning Network also contribute in the development and evolution of the BOLT standards.
Another major difference between Lightning node software and Bitcoin node software is that Lightning nodes do not need to operate in lockstep with consensus rules and can have extended functionality ...
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