BIP3: clarify number assignment #2022

1. 
   jonatack commented at 10:34 pm on October 28, 2025: member

   There’s been confusion about this, so add the following clarification:

   “A number may be considered assigned only after it has been publicly announced in the pull request by a BIP Editor.”

   The following, for instance, should not constitute assignment of a BIP number:

   • an announcement on social media
   • a provisional entry to the internal editor notes, pending feedback from the other editors (the entry can be subsequently removed)
2. bip3: clarify number assignment b13e4913b0
3. jonatack added the label Proposed BIP modification on Oct 28, 2025
4. jonatack added the label Pending acceptance on Oct 28, 2025
5. 
   ajtowns commented at 4:42 pm on October 29, 2025: contributor

   Concept +1, but, alternatively, you could publish a canonical list of assigned numbers eg as a separate git repo (in which case editors could propose assignments as PRs) or as a wiki page (in which case proposed assignments would need to be out of band). That might make it slightly easier to go from “oh BIP xxx is assigned but not merged, which PR# was that again?”
6. 
   jonatack commented at 5:59 pm on October 29, 2025: member

   We do have a private git repo to coordinate assignments. Initially we opened PRs there, but it turned out that colleague feedback was easier to obtain in a different way. It was also suggested fairly early on to push to the repo directly. This worked fine until recently, but given recent events, I think it is best to clarify at what moment a number is assigned, and IMO that moment should be a public one, on the PR, as proposed here and as I think we generally see it.
7. 
   luke-jr commented at 6:14 pm on October 31, 2025: member

   Weak concept NACK. This prevents issuing numbers to authors directly, which has historically been done. OTOH, it hasn’t been the practice recently since the de facto requirement for a PR, so maybe it’s fine. But in that case, Rationale should probably mention/justify it.

Contributors
jonatack ajtowns luke-jr

Labels
Proposed BIP modification Pending acceptance