@ -2392,28 +2392,6 @@ is a soft fork because a transaction that is valid under BIP65 is also
valid on any client that is not implementing (ignorant of) BIP65. To
the old clients, the script contains an NOP code, which is ignored.
===== Other ways to soft fork upgrade
The reinterpretation of NOP opcodes was both planned for and an obvious
mechanism for consensus upgrades. Recently, however, another soft fork
mechanism was introduced that does not rely on NOP opcodes for a very
specific type of consensus change. This is examined in more detail in
<<segwit>>. Segwit is an architectural change to the structure of a
transaction, which moves the unlocking script (witness) from inside the
transaction to an external data structure (segregating it). Segwit was
initially envisioned as a hard fork upgrade, as it modified a
fundamental structure (transaction). In November 2015, a developer
working on Bitcoin Core proposed a mechanism by which segwit could be
introduced as a soft fork. The mechanism used for this is a modification
of the locking script of UTXO created under segwit rules, such that
unmodified clients see the locking script as redeemable with any
unlocking script whatsoever. As a result, segwit can be introduced
without requiring every node to upgrade or split from the chain: a soft
fork.
It is likely that there are other, yet to be discovered, mechanisms by
which upgrades can be made in a forward-compatible way as a soft fork.
==== Criticisms of Soft Forks
((("forks", "changing consensus rules", "soft fork drawbacks")))((("soft