In preparation for onboarding new core lighting developers are preparing a series of videos. So I've been asking ChatGPT about CLN developer features, particularly with comparison with other projects people might be familiar with.
Of course, I compare myself with Linux, but it's interesting to see comparisons against other projects:
**Type-safety**:
OpenBSD High
Bitcoin Core High
Core Lightning Very high for C
Nginx Low
curl Moderate
MySQL Moderate
SQLite Moderate
CLN sits near the top among major C codebases for safety discipline.
**PR Submission**
Core Lightning’s PR flow is unusually strict, slow-moving, and review-heavy compared to most open-source C projects — closer to Bitcoin Core or OpenBSD than to typical GitHub projects.
---
Compared to “average OSS”
Most projects:
Feature-oriented PRs
Informal review
Few required reviewers
Patch squashing common
Tests sometimes optional
Architectural discussion often post-merge
CLN:
Patch-first culture
Pre-merge architectural scrutiny
Extremely high reviewer expectations
Tests are mandatory
Clean, narrative commit history matters
npub179…elz4s
2025-12-02 22:48:51 UTC
Author Public Key
npub179e9tp4yqtqx4myp35283fz64gxuzmr6n3yxnktux5pnd5t03eps0elz4sPublished at
2025-12-02 22:48:51 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "In preparation for onboarding new core lighting developers are preparing a series of videos. So I've been asking ChatGPT about CLN developer features, particularly with comparison with other projects people might be familiar with.\n\nOf course, I compare myself with Linux, but it's interesting to see comparisons against other projects:\n\n**Type-safety**:\n\nOpenBSD\tHigh\nBitcoin Core\tHigh\nCore Lightning\tVery high for C\nNginx\tLow\ncurl\tModerate\nMySQL\tModerate\nSQLite\tModerate\n\n\nCLN sits near the top among major C codebases for safety discipline.\n\n**PR Submission**\n\nCore Lightning’s PR flow is unusually strict, slow-moving, and review-heavy compared to most open-source C projects — closer to Bitcoin Core or OpenBSD than to typical GitHub projects.\n---\n\nCompared to “average OSS”\n\nMost projects:\n\nFeature-oriented PRs\nInformal review\nFew required reviewers\nPatch squashing common\nTests sometimes optional\nArchitectural discussion often post-merge\n\n\nCLN:\n\nPatch-first culture\nPre-merge architectural scrutiny\nExtremely high reviewer expectations\nTests are mandatory\nClean, narrative commit history matters\n",
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