rpc, net: remove `startingheight` field of `getpeerinfo` RPC and from node state #34796

1. 
   theStack commented at 2:44 AM on March 11, 2026: contributor

   This PR completely removes the startingheight field in the getpeerinfo RPC, previously deprecated in v31.0 (see #34197). The second commit goes one step further: the only remaining usage for a Peers m_starting_height field is for printing P2P debug messages. Considering that the information is untrusted and not deemed useful (see discussion #33990), remove the field and only print the starting height information once at reception of the VERSION message (suggested by ajtowns in #33990 (comment)), without saving it.

2. 
   DrahtBot commented at 2:44 AM on March 11, 2026: contributor

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   Reviews

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   Type	Reviewers
   ACK	w0xlt, sedited, stickies-v
   Stale ACK	paseco-qu, maflcko, rkrux

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   Conflicts

   Reviewers, this pull request conflicts with the following ones:

   • #34588 (refactor: decompose Peer struct into focused sub-components by w0xlt)
   • #34389 (net/log: standardize peer+addr log formatting via LogPeer by l0rinc)

   If you consider this pull request important, please also help to review the conflicting pull requests. Ideally, start with the one that should be merged first.

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3. theStack force-pushed on Mar 11, 2026
4. DrahtBot added the label CI failed on Mar 11, 2026
5. stickies-v approved
6. 
   stickies-v commented at 6:45 AM on March 11, 2026: contributor

   ACK e0425924291020a4cc9498d686410ea09d704889

   I agree with the deprecation rationale in the predecessor PR, and thus also with this removal.

   The start_height field is now only still used to produce a Debug log message. We also still advertise our own m_best_height to peers, which is fine because it's free and we continue to adhere to the network protocol, even if the field seems to offer little benefit.

7. maflcko added this to the milestone 32.0 on Mar 11, 2026
8. 
   maflcko commented at 7:17 AM on March 11, 2026: member

   review ACK e0425924291020a4cc9498d686410ea09d704889 🚍

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   Signature:

   untrusted comment: signature from minisign secret key on empty file; verify via: minisign -Vm "${path_to_any_empty_file}" -P RWTRmVTMeKV5noAMqVlsMugDDCyyTSbA3Re5AkUrhvLVln0tSaFWglOw -x "${path_to_this_whole_four_line_signature_blob}"
   RUTRmVTMeKV5npGrKx1nqXCw5zeVHdtdYURB/KlyA/LMFgpNCs+SkW9a8N95d+U4AP1RJMi+krxU1A3Yux4bpwZNLvVBKy0wLgM=
   trusted comment: review ACK e0425924291020a4cc9498d686410ea09d704889 🚍
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9. DrahtBot removed the label CI failed on Mar 11, 2026
10. 
    rkrux commented at 8:03 AM on March 11, 2026: contributor

    code review ACK e0425924291020a4cc9498d686410ea09d704889

    Follow up to the previous deprecation PR gone in v31.

11. sedited approved
12. 
    sedited commented at 9:48 AM on March 11, 2026: contributor

    ACK e0425924291020a4cc9498d686410ea09d704889

    Seems fine to remove the starting height from the debug log too.

13. DrahtBot added the label Needs rebase on Mar 11, 2026
14. rpc, net: completely remove `startingheight` field of `getpeerinfo` RPC b267efcdaf
15. p2p: remove m_starting_height field from node state (only show once in debug log) 745ad941de
16. theStack force-pushed on Mar 11, 2026
17. 
    theStack commented at 3:17 PM on March 11, 2026: contributor

    Rebased on master (due to conflict after #34389). Thanks for the quick reviews!

18. DrahtBot removed the label Needs rebase on Mar 11, 2026
19. 
    w0xlt commented at 7:40 PM on March 11, 2026: contributor

    ACK 745ad941dedaa0f4e2a5fdda58a3bf683d672196

20. DrahtBot requested review from maflcko on Mar 11, 2026
21. DrahtBot requested review from stickies-v on Mar 11, 2026
22. DrahtBot requested review from sedited on Mar 11, 2026
23. DrahtBot requested review from rkrux on Mar 11, 2026
24. sedited approved
25. 
    sedited commented at 7:41 PM on March 11, 2026: contributor

    Re-ACK 745ad941dedaa0f4e2a5fdda58a3bf683d672196

26. 
    stickies-v commented at 3:25 AM on March 12, 2026: contributor

    re-ACK 745ad941dedaa0f4e2a5fdda58a3bf683d672196, no changes except for addressing minor merge conflict

27. sedited merged this on Mar 12, 2026
28. sedited closed this on Mar 12, 2026

    ---

29. theStack deleted the branch on Mar 12, 2026
30. sedited referenced this in commit 75f2bf1011 on Apr 25, 2026
31. yuvicc referenced this in commit 9df13f29ba on May 26, 2026

Review Requested
rkruxmaflckostickies-v

Milestone
32.0