CLN vs LND vs ECL
42 sats \ 11 comments \ @Zk2u 18 Apr 2022 bitcoin
re: lightning implementations
i’ve looked up implementation comparisons but everything’s from three years ago. what are the pros/cons of each one currently and what defining features do they offer? what about the experience?
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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @SoulOnChain 18 Apr 2022 freebie
They had a good panel on this topic at the Bitcoin Conference in Miami: https://youtu.be/CTytHNi_zHg
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2 sats \ 0 replies \ @Zk2u OP 18 Apr 2022
tyvm, will watch this tomorrow
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24 sats \ 2 replies \ @k00b 18 Apr 2022
You forgot to mention LDK which is seeing more and more use as time goes on. Also IMMORTAN which @fiatjaf is fond of.
A similar question was asked awhile ago, but focused more toward devs: #13364
Here was my answer to why we use LND for SN. I'm really curious about what's going on in other impls though.
For SN, we use LND. It'd be wrong to call it my favorite, because I hadn't and still haven't really evaluated the alternatives. It just seemed more developer friendly (again, it might not actually be because I have no basis for an evaluation).
Retrospective reasoning:
  1. I could build and run it on my mac
  2. it had a gRPC interface and easy to use javascript wrappers
  3. the slack was active with people from a variety of skill levels and questions were answered quickly
  4. they have tons of documentation and developer guides
  5. it seemed like most developers were building on top of it vs other impls lightning is the sole focus of the company behind it and that made me feel more confident that the project would continue to improve and exist
  6. I've programmed a lot in golang recently and felt more confident in my ability to deal with builds and any required customization/contributions in the future (while I've programmed more in C than golang, and even prefer programming C, golang is notoriously dull and free of magic so reading/modifying someone else's go code is more approachable than someone's C code)
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11 sats \ 1 reply \ @Zk2u OP 18 Apr 2022
thank you! yes, i knew of LDK too. need to dig more into how it works more. isn’t cash app using it? i wonder what that implementation looks like. IMMORTAN i hadn’t heard of but also looks interesting.
i am asking for a few reasons
  1. get a perspective about what the current dev space looks like around LN (i’ve been doing stuff with stacks since mainnet launch jan, currently starting up a new co called Valera Labs, where we’re pivoting to more bitcoin-based than stacks-based stuff)
  2. at valera we’re looking at building a new LN wallet combined with some other things. not sure what architecture we’ll use, what implementations we should and where. breez is using LND on a mobile device which is very interesting and we’re looking into their tech now. but breez runs its own nodes too acting as an LSP (i’m guessing these are probably LND too)
  3. i’m thinking of building a routing node on some decently high-powered arm chip just for supporting the network and getting experience
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19 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b 18 Apr 2022
i knew of LDK too. need to dig more into how it works more. isn’t cash app using it?
Yep, reason being they wanted something that was easy to plug deeply into their existing infrastructure.
breez is using LND on a mobile device which is very interesting and we’re looking into their tech now. but breez runs its own nodes too acting as an LSP (i’m guessing these are probably LND too)
Breez is transitioning to use Greenlight and Core LN: #18247
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110 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 18 Apr 2022
From 2019 until now I used LND and CLN. I may need to run a ECL too. I would not say what I like, because that is a personal choice. But I will say this:
  • what is more practical: LND
  • what is more reliable: CLN
If LND guys will not start fixing more things in LND than adding more stuff, then LND will collapse. LND has patches over patches...
CLN during these years was building slowly but steady and keeping a good pace with fixing things first before going to introduce a new feature. Also the modular way with plugins is much easier to control.
Right now I run both.
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6 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryptocoin 19 Apr 2022
Here are a couple recent posts that you may find relevant.
How Bitcoin’s Leading Lightning Implementations Are Expanding Functionality | Bitcoin Magazine #20529 https://bitcoinmagazine.com/technical/bitcoin-lightning-network-expanding-function
Core Lightning: How Blockstream’s Implementation Rebrand Speaks To Its Long-Term Vision For Bitcoin | Bitcoin Magazine #20506 https://bitcoinmagazine.com/technical/blockstream-core-lightning-bitcoin-rebrand
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4 sats \ 0 replies \ @TheBTCManual 19 Apr 2022
I am glad there are multiple implementations LND has been so focused on making announcements and providing half-arsed guides and updates, kind of annoys me. Their lightning was the first wallet I messed with, and they just shut it down like wtf lol
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4 sats \ 0 replies \ @BlueSlime 19 Apr 2022
LND is a batteries included setup and seems to be the industry standard. Has the most solid third party integration and support, lndconnect, and macaroons out of the box.
Clightning requires more finesse to setup. You have to tinker with additional plugins, rest API, and other things. But they are innovating with new stuff for BOLT12 like onion messages.
I haven't really used eclair outside of Polar App. It is next on my list to try out!
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5 sats \ 1 reply \ @kilianbuhn 19 Apr 2022
I don't like that the people in LND act as if they were the official implementation of Lightning.
That's why I think c-lightning is worth supporting and the renaming into core-lightning is some kind of joke towards LND.
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2 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 19 Apr 2022
agreed
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