Topic: what is a fork? (Read 1064 times)

Forks can occur from two different events. An accidental fork occurs if coin updates are not truly compatible. People using different versions of the software create two different ledgers–one from the older version, and one from the newer version. In this circumstance the coin developer must rapidly eliminate the bugs causing the incompatibilities and decide how to merge the different blockchains.

A hard fork is generated when the cryptocurrency’s developers decide that changes must be made to the programming of the coin that will create incompatibilities between the older and newer version. When the changes are made, all users of that coin must willing to update all applications to continue to use that coin type correctly.

If this is confusing, let us use Microsoft Word for example. Microsoft frequently releases new versions of Word. Each version attempts to be backwards compatible and retain the ability to read and edit older documents. However, often older versions of Word have great difficulty in reading documents created in one of the newer versions. So if you create a document in Word 2007 and your buddy edits and saves it in Word 2013, you may have problems reading it. Despite the assumption that its going to be the same document, you two have created a fork in your document.

You can read more about it at Here's the great project for basic reading [bitcoinwiki.org](https://en.bitcoinwiki.org/wiki/Main_Page)

Coin splits are created intentionally via forks of the blockchain, sharing a transaction history with Bitcoin up to a certain time and date.

Hope this helps!

i have also been wondering what a bitcoin fork means. Thanks for the link!

the group is a group, involving many partie

Fork is the name for an event that occurs when the developer team of a cryptocurrency agrees to apply new features / changes to the programming system of the coin. Usually this is done to secure the network cryptocurrency or adapt to the increasing number of coin users. Hard Fork can cause a mismatch between the old and new versions, so all cryptocurrency users need to update all applications associated with this coin in order to stay in good position.

so helpful to this forum, i just heard and i have a bit of a picture what the bitcoin fork is

Ive seen some forks that dont even resemble the original chain or even principals the the original was derived from.  Crypto moves pretty quick.

It's made by anyone who enough skillful with a coding. Even you can learn how to do your own fork and how to make people using it. 

These coins multiply and they can really multiply really fast. These coins when taken can be multiplied and the one that is mind can be owned and the other can wait to be mined.

Do you mean that update is made by special people like Satoshi Nakamoto or it's made by anyone who is enough qualified in IT development?

Your explanation is very easy to understand. I didn't understand what the fork is before but I understand now. Thanks

i like your explanation and how you elaborated it. thanks for your explanation and shared link. 

Yes, its understood now. Its all brilliant xplanation, whats fork it is. Im so glad all of here really participate in every forum to help each other, and most to help newbies like us to easy understand everything regarding in this cryptoworld.
A lot of tnx! And good salute to all u.
Its christmas eve, happy holiday and feel the rhythm and spirit of christmas day.
More blessings to each and everyone, and more tokens to recieve in incoming 2018.

Fork is a considerable update (change) to be done on a system, especially in crypto currency.

People get confused with this word. I'll try to explain with an easy example. First you have to understand what is a protocol. A protocol is a way to do something, like dancing. Imagine there are rules to a dance saying everybody raises their right hand in the air and spins around, but keep the left hand down. Now see 5 people dancing this way, now 20 people now 100! Everybody is doing the same dance, following the protocol, meaning they are in "consensus". Looks cool, right? Okay, now imagine one person raises their right hand too. They broke the rules! Now, most people are dancing the same but somebody is not. We would say that person "forked" away from consensus. Make sense?

In Bitcoin it's important to have consensus, because when there is a fork it causes some reaction in the real world. For example, everybody using Bitcoin knows there are only 21 million coins. If somebody says there are 50 million coins they have forked. So everybody should ignore that fork if they don't want Bitcoin to have 50 million coins.

Now that you understand forks, here is a longer technical explanation on the difference between hard-forks and soft-forks regarding Bitcoin: https://medium.com/@octskyward/on-consensus-and-forks-c6a050c792e7

In this forum, we can learnt everything we want to know. A lot of thoughts, a lot of ideas, so meaningful and become tools for everyone, most the beginner, or a brandnew same as like me, as a newbie.
Gratitudely thank u so much, with a heart.

Check this article. It's pretty much explained here http://cryptocurrencyfacts.com/understanding-hard-forks-cryptocurrency/

A fork in software engineering is a branch in the version of the current software which takes a different path of development from its original, this is done in blockchain networks to when people have a divided opinion regarding the development of the blockchain or the direction it is supposed to take.

Split

Fork in simple words, cryptocurrencies need to be improved and undated at some point and which is beneficial for them for long term survival of currency.

I have a question, If I pulled my bitcoins off of Coin Base before august 1st, into a hard wallet , how do I claim bitcoin cash or am i out because i listen to the panic? thanks for any reply's !

so how can you claim a fork if you have bitcoin in a wallet like coinbase lets say ?

Yes me too

Come on, I am banging my head around and this the very short answer but informative, thank you! You save my a lot of time learning what is fork all about.

bitcoin is a good currency I think its not the who e will be able to catch up in the future I hope this will be the only currency around the world

 A hard fork is when a single cryptocurrency splits in two. It occurs when a cryptocurrency’s existing code is changed, resulting in both an old and new version. Meanwhile a soft fork is essentially the same thing, but the idea is that only one blockchain (and thus one coin) will remain valid as users adopt the update. So both fork types create a split, but a hard fork is meant to create two blockchain/coins and a soft fork is meant to result in one. Segwit was a soft fork, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, and Segwit2x are all hard forks.

I got it.

One question: do the forked coin share the same blockchain or have an individual network?

are forks backed up by someone ? why are they expensive?

I often hear the word "fork" in this bitcoin forum but to be honest I do not understand what the fork means and what impact or benefit the forks are on this bitcoin.

is there anyone can explain it about what is a fork?

Hello. I'm so happy reading this thread because this is one of the things I want to understand.
Just for clarification, do you mean fork is a duplicate coin or token from the original?
I am right?

basic - click on link and read about what the fork is?

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/48517/cryptocurrency-what-is-a-fork/

The Fork word means split, there a split of particular coin such bitcoin to bitcoincash, ethereum to ethereum classic. those are the example from fork was happened on bitcoin and ethereum. Bitcoin source code modifications commonly known as fork. Such algorithms help to increase the space on the network block artificially and optimize its operation. In this case, the program is considered a fork only if the code changes in the blockchain system do not affect its authenticity.

Fork is basically a copy of a software code in github. After forking a software you can edit parameters or add more code to create a software of your own.

from all those links that the others gave it here, the only think I get for a simple words is, fork is just like "cent" of "dollar". cent in US is same money with US Dollar. So, Bitcoin as the Dollar and fork is just like "cent".
Or in other words, we buy a shopping voucher with USD, and then, when we buy something with that voucher it will give the same value than if we buy that thing with USD directly.
Fork is created for an improvement or make better strategy to deliver the coin just like that shopping voucher.

I still confused about that fork. I'm newbie but for learning things in this coin world, it really hard to understand it in short time. And also i hope there are sticky thread that discuss about ico,altcoin,fork,etc. the definition is really important, but I can't found that things in the sticky thread. So I try to open thread one by one that related to what I try to find out. It really hard. If I made a post, I don't want it because there will be other people said that i'm bounty hunter. Yes, I already read some thread about bounty hunter. those bounty hunter thread made me a little bit hate to start a thread just for asking. there will be some one will saying bounty hunter and that makes me harder to ask something here.

by the way, I have 1 deleted post by moderator that said my post was off-topic. I really hate that. No way I write a real off-topic. And as a no one, i can't reply the message that told me posted off-topic. How could I learn if my post a real off-topic or not? what's his/her reason said that post as off-topic or not.
ok,forget about that deleted post that I really wanna asked that time. So get back to the topic, Fork still hard to understand for newbie like me. Can anyone here give me some link to really learn about this coin world? every glossary, every words that related to this coin things. I would like to learn that can explain people like me with a simple words so I can understand it technically faster.

No. I'm sorry. But that's not a fork. A fork happens when the community disagrees on what to do next. Do we increase the block size and increase the speed of transactions? But what about those with poor internet connection, etc...

There are times when competing interests cannot be reconciled.

when btc or some other coins want to double their coin or make 2 rivals of each other fork occurs.

Now I get it. I couldn't understand it even in seaching in google or utube for the simplest terms. Thank u

It looks to me like forking is quite the hassle in most cases. How does people agree which chain is going to be the legitimate one?

A fork is decision about how to move forward with a software project. The fork can make some things that used to be permissionable invalid and things that were invalid are now considered valid. This decision can be a good idea or a bad idea - but that's different. In general forks arrive when two sets of people disagree on the correct action. The solution is to take both actions.

It gets more involved than this - but this is a common issue in the software development world.

A hard fork is when a single cryptocurrency splits in two. It occurs when a cryptocurrency’s existing code is changed, resulting in both an old and new version. Meanwhile a soft fork is essentially the same thing, but the idea is that only one blockchain (and thus one coin) will remain valid as users adopt the update. So both fork types create a split, but a hard fork is meant to create two blockchain/coins and a soft fork is meant to result in one. Segwit was a soft fork, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, and Segwit2x are all hard forks.

an object to tear flesh while we eat

I am also new to altcoins doing a fork, regalcoin.co is doing a hardfork but I don't really know what it means. They have set 2 different type of coin on their website. You can convert your coins vice versa. The question I think, is the transaction safe?

Nope,isn't patented technology is the opposite is open source that's why someone can do a fork maybe.

Agree with you. Fork references can be easily found just by googling it.
I think the most important thing related to fork is why it has to be so many forks those just will confuse people. I think it's like you wanna split from your main business but not have enough uniqueness to stand alone and grab its main marketshre, so you still use its identity partially to make it acceptable for market. ex bitcoin X, bitcoin Y, Z etc.

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/48517/cryptocurrency-what-is-a-fork/ First link in the google is one of the bests to just get know what it is about... Just read and search, thats the basics of crypto.

Fork is a copy of an existing blockchain which continues to develop on its own. Here's a more detailed explanation: https://coincodex.com/article/45/what-is-a-hard-fork/

I'd recommend free online course offered by Princeton University
https://www.coursera.org/learn/cryptocurrency/home/welcome

they have lessons about forks

bitcoin fork is splitting the bitcoin, for example bitcoin split into BCH.

Due to the upgrades in the crypto system, sometimes wild price fluctuations occurs. This phenomena is called a "FORK".

In the cryptocurrency world a fork is when a there is a change in the rules of the blockchain that the coin operates on or the nodes disagree on a historic transaction
There are 2 types, the hard fork and the soft pork.

Fork can be used for more then improving network difficulty or algorithm. It can increase or decrease coins, reverse transaction (move to a early date of the chain) and many more thing. That is the reason people don`t like forks...

I think there are 2 types of fork in my understanding. It can be a good or a bad thing. You should be looking for the reason for doing it. If it's really good for the project

isn't the BTC code patented technology?

There won't be any copy right issues.
When codes are uploaded to GitHub and set to public, you grant other GitHub users the right to fork your repository(aka clone your code).

Laws, really? There isn't any regulatщкы on cryptocurrencies market. The same situation is true for blockchain software...

The little knowledge, I know is the transaction made toward a project.

The fork is a change in the algorithm rules of the "centralized" currency and aims to improve the Network Difficulty Adjustment Algorithm.
The new algorithm change expects to adjust the hashrate difficulty to reach an average block interval of 600 seconds.
That changes in the algorithm leads to a derivation of the main chain, and a new coin is created, in which one of the coins continues with the old algorithm, and the other one uses the new algorithm.
When the fork happens, the old coins will exist in both chains, leading to a doubling of coins.

I also confuse. But i know the purpose is to make the transaction quicker by add some block.

As a newbie, fork makes me confuse too. Googling it and found so many forks, not only in Bitcoin.
Even in Bitcoin "family" I still completely confuse to start earning from which coin. BTC, BCH, BTG, BTX, B2X.
Hundreds of tokens also distracts my focus. Sorry for share this.

I thought they have made fork to avoid hacking, that's what i understand about fork. Am i right? For example they want to hack bitcoin wallet. Hacker couldn't easily hack that wallet.

It's important to take into account that you have the possibility to make money from events like this. You can sell the forked currency to increase your main balance or have both currencies.

Fork is a change in implementation of the code for a crypto currency ecosystem. Just like any other application on your phone or a computer cryptocurrencies undergo changes, to flourish, harden the crypto currency.
There are predominantly two different categories of forks. A soft fork and a hard fork.

A soft fork is when the underlying changes done to the crypto ecosystem doesn’t effect the existing crypto ecosystem, meaning it is backward compatible with the older version of the crypto currency. You can go on performing your transactions and you’d hardly notice a difference in the way you deal with the currency.
A hard fork on the other hand comprised of a major change that alters the existing blockchain storing the transaction blocks. This will render the old version of the coin incompatible with the newer version and you would no longer be able to carry out transactions on the older version.

A hard fork is generated when the cryptocurrency’s developers decide that changes must be made to the programming of the coin that will create incompatibilities between the older and newer version. When the changes are made, all users of that coin must willing to update all applications to continue to use that coin type correctly.

or read this http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/48517/cryptocurrency-what-is-a-fork/

There are differences between soft- and hardfork .

How many meanings can have one word. You can find out more about the fork on youtub. I recommend this portal for beginners, there are many useful information.

Thanks guys...I didn't know what a fork was but now i have got some basic idea about it! This forum is so useful!

All those articles written on some nerd language which is hard to understand to me as to a girl. But I think I understoo the main idea - sharing. But what this sharing is bringing with itself? Some faster transactions, am I right? 

Would there be any copy right issues?
I don't even think that those laws are applicable here,but still I'm curious

Even i also dont know what the fork... but now i have got some basic idea about it. thanks

read this

https://coins.ph/blog/upcoming-bitcoin-network-fork-english/

Isn't forking just basically "copying" code from GitHub in your own repository and start working on that code in your repository

It's exactly the same thing as in software development, since basically it's also a fork on the code.
You can find some pretty good explanations on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_(software_development)
Fork can be because you need two different versions for two specific use cases, or juste because there is a difference on the vision of the product.

A fork is when you take the source code of a project and then create a new one from it independently. To make it short, It's when you clone a project to make another one with some changes.

The term applies to cryptocurrency but it can be about a browser, an operating system etc.
For example, Qupzilla is a fork of Mozilla, Mozilla is a fork of Seamonkey. Kubuntu is a fork of Ubuntu, and so on. It's just a term in software engineering

As related to Bitcoin you can read this to understand better what it's about: https://blog.coinbase.com/what-is-a-bitcoin-fork-cba07fe73ef1

To know more about hard fork you should read this https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/guides/what-is-a-bitcoin-fork/

I also do not really understand what a bitcoin fork is, I've read from a blog, I remember a bit that bitcoin fork is a modified protocol or a blockchain protocol that is split into two or several parts. that's all I remember.

In short, there's a split in the direction a coin is taking, so a duplicate is made of the blockchain and a new coin is created, the two can then go their individual ways.

I have recently seen many people discussing about bitcoin fork,and I literally have no idea on what it is.
No trolls please.