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The original was posted on /r/monero by /u/rbrunner7 on 2024-04-28 17:13:28.

(Copy of this GitHub issue, posted here on Reddit for added visibility. Don’t worry if it sounds mostly Greek to you, main target audience is devs.)

The Short Version

The devs from the Seraphis wallet workgroup currently build a new wallet implementation for the Monero core software. It will supersede wallet2.h plus wallet2.cpp which won’t be available anymore for programs like the Monero CLI wallet or the Monero RCP server, and neither for any third-party wallet apps like Cake Wallet, Monerujo and so on. The API for the new wallet will be wallet2_api.h plus a number of related header files from the /source/wallet/api folder of the Monero source code. All things that are now only in the wallet2.h “API” will be added to that, to cover 100% of the necessary functionality, and to make getting fully rid of wallet2.h possible in the first place.

The Long Version

Right now as I write this, in Spring 2024, it’s not fully clear how the path of the Monero software into the future will look exactly. Most probably it will use FCMPs, but apart from that there are several possible directions to take. What is clear however is that the wallet implementation of the core Monero software, with its massive 15,000 lines of complex code in a single source file called wallet2.cpp, is definitely ill suited for larger modifications to accommodate transactions that work rather differently.

We, i.e. the group of Monero devs that are engaged in the Seraphis wallet workgroup, are convinced that the time has finally come to retire wallet2 and replace it with a full rewrite. Actually, work on this has started quite a while ago and will hopefully soon pick up speed considerably: We are already on the way.

One question left unanswered so far for quite a while already was this: How will the API of this new wallet look? Which C++ methods, structs, enums and so on will it offer, for wallet app writers to use?

Personally I once had a dream of a brand-new such wallet API, designed out on a green field, making things possible like keeping several wallets open at the same time seamlessly and syncing them in parallel, unify wallet API and RPC server API so that the only difference between the two would be that for the first you make direct C++ method calls and remote “calls” for the second, and maybe offering a clean superset API for multisig wallets instead of cramming them into a single API as well.

The progression of time and the realities of available dev capacity made this dream to be out of reach however. And hey, maybe such a drastic cut never was a really clever idea …

Recently jberman made this proposal. In short: In addition to wallet2.h there is already a second API in the Monero codebase in the form of wallet2_api.h plus a number of related header files also in the /source/wallet/api folder. The GUI wallet and a number of third-party wallet apps mainly use this instead of wallet2.h. Our new wallet shall use this as its API.

This proposal was very well received; I am not aware of even a single person voicing clear disapproval, at least until now. We discussed the proposal in our group meeting on April 22, and we approved it. You find details in the meeting log.

We currently plan to start with making the API feature-complete, i.e. adding all things to wallet2_api.h that so far are only available by using the lower wallet2.h directly, and then probably also providing an implementation internally based on wallet2. This should allow wallet app writers, if they so wish of course, to soon start any necessary move to the new API while we rewrite the implementation that will finaly replace wallet2.cpp.

Things happen in the open. People who are interested in these developments are invited to join our Matrix room or the #no-wallet-left-behind IRC channel on Libera.chat. You find the announcements for the regular Monday group meetings here.

Now finally to the “probably” in the title: Can those people from that “wallet workgroup” really decide to throw wallet2 out of the Monero codebase and force everybody to adjust to that wallet2_api? As I personally see it, yes and no. No because they don’t have formal authority for this; in fact, nobody has any such “formal authority” in a true open source project like Monero is one! Yes because if they implement a new wallet, and it comes out decent, the rest of the Monero dev community at large will probably follow along nevertheless.

Anyway, Monero development rises and falls with engagement. Make your voice heard if the things mentioned here are important to you.