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QIP Workflow

1. Considerations and Governance​

1.1. Scope Considerations​

Understand that QRL Improvement Proposals are design documents which govern the core structure of the QRL ecosystem. This includes the following layers:

  • core: Improvements requiring a consensus fork.
    • networking: Improvements around network components
    • security: Improvements and upgrades to to the security.
  • Interface: Improvements around APIs
  • meta: Self referential to the QIP Process, governance, and structure.

Anything outside of these layers will result in a rejected QIP.

1.2. Governance​

Anyone can and is encouraged to submit a QRL Improvement Proposal (QIP) if they have an idea to improve the QRL core protocol.

Votes are loosely coupled and takes place on-chain by taking a snapshot of each addresses funds and distributing a proportional amount of tokens. Known organizational entities, such as exchanges, and funds from the foundation, are excluded from this proportional distribution.

When a proposal is opened, the snapshot and voting blockheight are declared along with the minimum voting threshold and turnout. Destination addresses are created, where the distributed tokens can be sent to 'register' the voters decision.

2. Shepherding your QIP​

Parties involved in the process are you, the champion(s) and QIP author(s), the QIP editors, the QRL community, and the QRL contributors.

QIPs start as ideas: it’s a good idea to share these ideas with the parties involved before starting. Ask the QRL community first if an idea is original to avoid wasting time on something that will be rejected based on prior research.

2.1. Drafting your idea​

Once it's determined that the idea is original and with some merit, begin by drafting your proposal from the reference QIP and following the process specification in this document below.

2.2. Facilitate Discussions​

Facilitate discussions and adjust your QIP in accordance with the discussions that have taken place.

While you're championing for your own QIP, skill will be required to keep discussions positive, forward-thinking, and in good faith in order to consider all viewpoints.

Thoroughly understanding all viewpoints will allow you to refine your draft into a proposal that's more likely to gain community consensus.

2.3. Request for proposal​

After a minimum of a two week period, and when you're ready for the draft to reach a proposal stage, put in a proposal request to the authors as part of the reference QIP. The QIP editors will then review the draft

Assuming no adjustments are requested, the editors will evaluate and propose an on-chain governance specification.

At this point, the QIP will move from draft/incomplete to proposal/open.

Special note: While the QIP editors endeavor to achieve on-chain governance for every QIP, it's possible a proposal may not be suitable due to unforeseen factors.

2.4. Proposal/open​

Discussion will continue on the open proposal through to the final consensus blockheight. This is a process that can last months, depending on the scope of the proposal.

2.5. Proposal review and summary​

Whether or not consensus is reached, a summary of the proposal is made and the discussion locked.

If consensus is reached at it passes review, the QIP will be set as a recommendation and slated for development depending on resources available.

3. Process Specification​

The process involves an understanding of git, which many find to be cumbersome and may feel more at ease in a GUI, of which there are a few.

3.1. Fork and setup your QIP Repository​

Login to GitHub and fork the QIP repository by clicking on the fork in the top right hand corner of your browser.

3.1.1. Clone your local repository​

git clone https://github.com/[YOUR-USERNAME]/qips

3.1.2. Set theQRL organization's repository as upstream​

git remote add upstream https://github.com/theQRL/qips

3.1.3. Setup your local environment​

For smoother editing, a local jekyll site can be built.

  1. Open terminal
  2. Ensure that you have ruby installed
ruby --version
  1. If you don't have ruby installed, install it.
  2. Install bundler
gem install bundler
  1. Install dependencies
bundle install

3.2. Starting a draft​

3.2.1. Copy the reference QIP​

Copy qips/reference and rename to "draft" followed a self-descriptive slug.

Examples:

  • draft-privacy.md
  • draft-encoding.md

3.2.2. Add anything needed from the specification​

Each QIP is preceded and specified by front-matter denoted between two sets of dashes "---", which allows for it to be easily parsed by other programs. For quick reference, a the qip-template.md can be used to fill out the frontmatter along with the reference copied in step 3.2.1.

A more detailed specification is outlined in the file qip-specification.md.

Formatting below the frontmatter follows a WYSIWYM (What You See Is What You Mean) syntax called Markdown. There a plenty of very good Markdown editors available.

3.3. Submit your draft​

Once you're satisfied, you'll want to submit a draft PR which consists of committing your files, pushing to your GitHub repository and then creating a pull request from theQRL's GitHub repository.

3.3.1. Commit and push​

Commit your files:

git add [filename]

or (with caution)

git add --all

It will open an editor asking you to briefly describe the changes made.

Once that's saved, you can then push to your repository on GitHub

git push

3.3.2. Submit your pull request​

Head over to the pull requests section of theQRL/qips repo and click on [New pull request].

3.4. Making adjustments​

After your draft is merged and discussions take place, you'll want to make some final adjustments before the draft is turned into a proposal.

3.4.1. Fetch and merge upstream changes​

From the local repo you had before, fetch and merge upstream changes.

git fetch upstream
git merge upstream/master

3.4.2. Make changes, commit, and push​

Same thing as 3.3.1. Make any changes to your files and commit.

git add [filename]

or (with caution)

git add --all

It will open an editor asking you to briefly describe the changes made.

Once that's saved, you can then push to your repository on GitHub

git push

3.4.3. Submit a new pull request​

Head over to the pull requests section of theQRL/qips repo and click on [New pull request].

4. Getting help​

If you're lost at any point during this process, feel free to reach out to the community on Reddit, Discord or email QRL support at support@theqrl.org.