<blockquote>
<p>I often hear Bitcoin Core 30,000, or something like that on Optech podcast. Can somebody please explain what these versions are?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The numbers inside the ”Notable code and documentation changes&quot; section of optech are PR numbers. Every code change for bitcoin is part of a PR (Pull Request). There are many pull requests in every release and each pull request has its own number. The numbers started at 1 and for each pull request or issue the number increases. The number for new pull requests created today is around 31500 (as of December 16 2024). That is where the large numbers come from.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>And if possible the process of merging the code into a new version like 28.0 for example. Like for example assumeutxo,do you merge it into bitcoin before the 28.0 is out on bitcoincore.org, or at the same time. Do you have like a draft version?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Pull requests are merged continuously and around every 6 months a new release branch is created. Every pull request merged before the new branch is created will be part of the upcoming release.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-16T20:50:33.920Z
To be clear @John and add to Victor's good answer, a PR is essentially a ticket tracking a code change. Many such PR are opened during a 6 months development cycle. Some are included as part of the main codebase ("merged"). What's in the main codebase when a new release is cut gets tested through what you could qualify draft release ("release candidate") and eventually released as the next version of Bitcoin Core.
Antoine Poinsot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-16T15:05:55.530Z
2024-12-16T15:05:55.530Z
Victor Larsson
<p>I often hear &quot;Bitcoin Core 30,000&quot;, or something like that, on Optech podcast. Can somebody please explain what these versions are? And if possible, the process of merging the code into a new version like 28.0 for example. Like for example assumeutxo: do you merge it into bitcoin before the 28.0 is out on bitcoincore.org, or at the same time. Do you have like a draft version?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-17T20:49:49.937Z
Hey John, I updated the title of this topic to capture the gist of what you are asking. Please feel free to update it further or roll my change back, if you feel that it doesn’t fit your intent.
Murch
<bitcoin-core-development>
What are those numbers over 30,000 in context of Bitcoin Core development?
John
# What are those numbers over 30,000 in context of Bitcoin Core development?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-12-16)

I often hear "Bitcoin Core 30,000", or something like that, on Optech podcast. Can somebody please explain what these versions are? And if possible, the process of merging the code into a new version like 28.0 for example. Like for example assumeutxo: do you merge it into bitcoin before the 28.0 is out on bitcoincore.org, or at the same time. Do you have like a draft version?

Thanks!

**Tags:** bitcoin-core-development

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Hey username_0, I updated the title of this topic to capture the gist of what you are asking. Please feel free to update it further or roll my change back, if you feel that it doesn’t fit your intent.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2024-12-16. Score: 5

> I often hear Bitcoin Core 30,000, or something like that on Optech podcast. Can somebody please explain what these versions are?

The numbers inside the ”Notable code and documentation changes" section of optech are PR numbers. Every code change for bitcoin is part of a PR (Pull Request). There are many pull requests in every release and each pull request has its own number. The numbers started at 1 and for each pull request or issue the number increases. The number for new pull requests created today is around 31500 (as of December 16 2024). That is where the large numbers come from.

> And if possible the process of merging the code into a new version like 28.0 for example. Like for example assumeutxo,do you merge it into bitcoin before the 28.0 is out on bitcoincore.org, or at the same time. Do you have like a draft version?

Pull requests are merged continuously and around every 6 months a new release branch is created. Every pull request merged before the new branch is created will be part of the upcoming release.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: To be clear @username_0 and add to username_2's good answer, a PR is essentially a ticket tracking a code change. Many such PR are opened during a 6 months development cycle. Some are included as part of the main codebase ("merged"). What's in the main codebase when a new release is cut gets tested through what you could qualify draft release ("release candidate") and eventually released as the next version of Bitcoin Core.  

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