The full name of EIP is Ethereum Improvement Proposal. Simply put, an EIP is a document that describes a proposal for Ethereum, usually containing the technical specifications and rationale behind the proposal. Additionally, EIP authors are responsible for building consensus within the community and documenting dissenting opinions. Anyone can create an EIP. EIP-1 details the requirements and recommendations for submitting an EIP.
EIP also serves as Ethereum’s governance mechanism, as EIP is critical to prompting changes to Ethereum and recording them. This is a process in which Ethereum community members propose, evaluate, and implement updates to the network.
Standards Track EIP description affects most or all Ethereum mechanisms Any changes to the network protocol, such as changes to the network protocol or changes to block or transaction validity rules. Standard EIPs can be further broken down into the following categories:
Meta EIP describes other content surrounding Ethereum. Meta EIP is similar to standard EIP but works outside of the Ethereum protocol. They may propose implementations, but they won’t work for Ethereum’s codebase. They often require community consensus. Unlike informational EIPs, they are more than just suggestions and users generally cannot ignore them. Examples include changing the tools or environments used in Ethereum development.
Informational EIP describes Ethereum design issues or provides general guidance or information to the Ethereum community, but does not propose new features. Informational EIPs do not necessarily represent Ethereum community consensus or recommendations, so users and implementers are free to ignore Informational EIPs or follow their recommendations.
The EIP Editor is responsible for maintaining and managing the EIP. For example, EIP editors check newly submitted EIPs to see if they are complete and error-free, assign EIP numbers, etc. But EIP editors only perform administrative and editing tasks. They do not comment on the EIP.
The current EIP editors are:
You may be interested in the following:
- What is Ethereum?
- What is the Ethereum Virtual Machine EVM?