diff --git a/doc/release-notes.md b/doc/release-notes.md index 0eb16156a0..3408c4c790 100644 --- a/doc/release-notes.md +++ b/doc/release-notes.md @@ -168,33 +168,38 @@ three bytes overhead) Relay and Mining: Priority transactions --------------------------------------- -Bitcoin Core has a heuristic 'priority' based on coin value and age for -transactions which do not meet pay the minimum relay fee. Bitcoin Core relays -and mines these transactions depending on the setting of `-limitfreerelay=` -(default: `r=15` kB per minute) and `-blockprioritysize=`. +Bitcoin Core has a heuristic 'priority' based on coin value and age. This +calculation is used for relaying of transactions which do not meet pay the +minimum relay fee, and can be used as an alternative way of sorting +transactions for mined blocks. Bitcoin Core will relay transactions with +insufficient fees depending on the setting of `-limitfreerelay=` (default: +`r=15` kB per minute) and `-blockprioritysize=`. -In Bitcoin Core 0.12 when mempool limit has been reached a higher minimum relay -fee takes effect to limit memory usage. Transactions which do not meet this -higher effective minimum relay fee will not be relayed or mined even if they -would rank highly according to the priority heuristic if they were accepted. +In Bitcoin Core 0.12, when mempool limit has been reached a higher minimum +relay fee takes effect to limit memory usage. Transactions which do not meet +this higher effective minimum relay fee will not be relayed or mined even if +they rank highly according to the priority heuristic. -In Bitcoin Core 0.12 the reserved space for priority heuristic selected -transactions is also set to zero. - -To re-enable it, simply set `-blockprioritysize=` where is the size in bytes -of your blocks to reserve for these transactions. The old default was 50k, so -to retain the same policy, you would set `-blockprioritysize=50000`. +The mining of transactions based on their priority is also now disabled by +default. To re-enable it, simply set `-blockprioritysize=` where is the size +in bytes of your blocks to reserve for these transactions. The old default was +50k, so to retain approximately the same policy, you would set +`-blockprioritysize=50000`. Additionally, as a result of computational simplifications, the priority value used for transactions received with unconfirmed inputs is lower than in prior -versions to due avoiding recomputing the amounts as transactions confirm. +versions due to avoiding recomputing the amounts as input transactions confirm. -External miner policy set via the prioritisetransaction RPC to rank +External miner policy set via the `prioritisetransaction` RPC to rank transactions already in the mempool continues to work as it has previously. +Note, however, that if mining priority transactions is left disabled, the +priority delta will be ignored and only the fee metric will be effective. This internal automatic prioritization handling is being considered for removal -entirely in Bitcoin Core 0.13. Community direction on this topic is -particularly requested to help set project priorities. +entirely in Bitcoin Core 0.13, and it is at this time undecided whether the +more accurate priority calculation for chained unconfirmed transactions will be +restored. Community direction on this topic is particularly requested to help +set project priorities. Automatically use Tor hidden services -------------------------------------