rust-bitcoin / rust-bitcoin/rust-miniscript
Descriptor::parse_descriptor is hard to discover
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- Dominant language
- Rust
- Stars
- 426
- Forks
- 200
- Avg merge
- 7d 17h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 8
Description
If you have a descriptor string containing secret keys, it's super non-obvious how to parse this. You can type from_str into docs.rs but nothing will come up. You can type parse and the Descriptor::parse_descriptor method does show up in the list, but there's nothing in the name indicating that it's for secret-key descriptors (and the word "secret" doesn't appear til late in the description so you need a wide screen for it to show up).
As a further thing, it kinda sucks that you can't just parse and re-serialize secret-key-containing descriptors without needing a secp context and doing all the secret key derivations.
I think both API issues would be solved by introducing a SecretDescriptor type which can be parsed/reserialized and converted to/from a (Descriptor, KeyMap) pair, and nothing else.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by reviewing the Descriptor::parse_descriptor entry point and how descriptor parsing is exposed through docs.rs, including the existing from_str search path. Define the proposed SecretDescriptor API, including parsing, re-serialization, and conversion to and from a (Descriptor, KeyMap) pair, while avoiding unnecessary secp context and secret-key derivation.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- rust
- Domain
- backend-api-design, developer-experience
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100