Formal description of Byzantine Consensus algorithm

[vinniefalco]

The consensus algorithm used in Ripple, is the core of the software. However, there is no formal explanation of how it works, or any sort of unit-testable pseudo-code. We need a formal description along with supporting research, pseudo-code, and sample programs.

There's a more in-depth discussion here:

https://ripple.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4118&p=23393#p23393

[kravets]

IMHO, Ripple's long term vision of becoming "Open Transaction Protocol" will not happen without:

• Rigorous Paper showing soundness of Consensus
• IETF-style RFC specification of network messages and their semantics
• Existence of alternative implementations based on the spec above.

These things don't need to happen right away or even soon, but without them RTXP will never become a real internet standard.

Cheers ...

[vinniefalco]

There's been a lot of progress on this, including consensus refactoring and simulation tests. This issue is obsolete.