Hard Fork, Hard-Forking Change
This definition comes from the technical glossary.
Definition
A permanent divergence in the the block chain, commonly occurs when non-upgraded nodes can’t validate blocks created by upgraded nodes that follow newer consensus rules.
Synonyms
- Hard fork
Not To Be Confused With
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Fork (a regular fork where all nodes follow the same consensus rules, so the fork is resolved once one chain has more proof of work than another)
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Soft fork (a temporary divergence in the block chain caused by non-upgraded nodes not following new consensus rules)
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Software fork (when one or more developers permanently develops a codebase separately from other developers)
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Git fork (when one or more developers temporarily develops a codebase separately from other developers
Links
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Hard fork — Bitcoin.org Developer Guide
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Hard fork — Bitcoin Wiki
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Has a hard fork ever occurred? — Bitcoin StackExchange