This is the suggested template for new EIPs.
Note that an EIP number will be assigned by an editor. When opening a pull request to submit your EIP, please use an abbreviated title in the filename, eip-draft_title_abbrev.md.
EIP: <to be assigned>
Title: <EIP title>
Author: <list of authors' names and optionally, email addresses>
Type: <Standard Track | Informational | Meta>
Category (*only required for Standard Track): <Core | Networking | Interface | ERC>
Status: Draft
Created: <date created on, in ISO 8601 (yyyy-mm-dd) format>
Requires (*optional): <EIP number(s)>
Replaces (*optional): <EIP number(s)>
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Provide a simplified and layman-accessible explanation of the EIP.
A short (~200 word) description of the technical issue being addressed.
The motivation is critical for EIPs that want to change the Ethereum protocol. It should clearly explain why the existing protocol specification is inadequate to address the problem that the EIP solves. EIP submissions without sufficient motivation may be rejected outright.
The technical specification should describe the syntax and semantics of any new feature. The specification should be detailed enough to allow competing, interoperable implementations for any of the current Ethereum platforms (cpp-ethereum, go-ethereum, parity, ethereumj, ethereumjs, ...).
The rationale fleshes out the specification by describing what motivated the design and why particular design decisions were made. It should describe alternate designs that were considered and related work, e.g. how the feature is supported in other languages. The rationale may also provide evidence of consensus within the community, and should discuss important objections or concerns raised during discussion.
All EIPs that introduce backwards incompatibilities must include a section describing these incompatibilities and their severity. The EIP must explain how the author proposes to deal with these incompatibilities. EIP submissions without a sufficient backwards compatibility treatise may be rejected outright.
Test cases for an implementation are mandatory for EIPs that are affecting consensus changes. Other EIPs can choose to include links to test cases if applicable.
The implementations must be completed before any EIP is given status "Final", but it need not be completed before the EIP is accepted. While there is merit to the approach of reaching consensus on the specification and rationale before writing code, the principle of "rough consensus and running code" is still useful when it comes to resolving many discussions of API details.
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