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Informational 19 Bitcoin

crypto: Change to_public_key to return FullPublicKey

Public commit record

What the developer wrote

Authored by Mitchell Bagot

85/100 · Strong
crypto: Change to_public_key to return FullPublicKey

In general, modern bitcoin code should be using either the compressed
FullPublicKey or the XOnlyPublicKey. Users should try to avoid the
legacy optionally-compressed public key. To this end, the types were
renamed. To further consolidate this, the to_public_key methods
throughout the key module should also return FullPublicKey, with the
existing behaviour relegated to new to_legacy_public_key.

Change all to_public_key functions to return FullPublicKey and
introduce corresponding to_legacy_public_key functions to return
LegacyPublicKey where necessary.
✓ Specific, descriptive subject✓ Names a concrete action or component✓ Provides detailed explanatory context✓ Explains rationale or failure mode
The short version

What changed, and why it matters

This commit is a routine API cleanup in the rust-bitcoin library. It changes several methods named to_public_key so they return a modern compressed public key type (FullPublicKey) instead of an older type that could be either compressed or uncompressed (LegacyPublicKey). The old behavior is preserved under new to_legacy_public_key methods. The change is about encouraging safer modern key handling, not about fixing an active security bug.

Recommended action

Treat as a normal API-breaking change. Downstream users should update calls to to_public_key where they expect LegacyPublicKey, and use to_legacy_public_key if uncompressed-key behavior is still required. No urgent security patch is indicated by the commit content.

Security signals we found

01

API behavior change: to_public_key now returns compressed FullPublicKey instead of optionally-uncompressed LegacyPublicKey

02

Encourages use of compressed/X-only public keys, which is considered modern best practice

03

Legacy uncompressed behavior explicitly moved to to_legacy_public_key

04

No memory-safety, cryptographic, or authorization flaw visible in the diff

Risk score

Why this scored 19/100

Our methodology →
Potential impact 2/30
Exploitability 1/25
Stealth signal 1/15
Affected reach 3/15
Confidence 8/10
Evidence quality 4/5
Human-validated context

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