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Informational 18 Bitcoin

Rename and move LegacyPublicKey::to_bytes to serialize

Public commit record

What the developer wrote

Authored by Mitchell Bagot

73/100 · Adequate
Rename and move LegacyPublicKey::to_bytes to serialize

The to_bytes function on LegacyPublicKey no longer yields a vec, but
instead a SerializedLegacyPublicKey. While the type functions like a
byte slice, the typical pattern for the serialising function's name is
serialize(), as is used on the ecdsa and taproot signatures.

Revert LegacyPublicKey::to_bytes to return Vec<u8> and deprecate.
Introduce serialize function that returns SerializedLegacyPublicKey
alongside other serialising functions.
✓ Specific, descriptive subject✓ Names a concrete action or component✓ Provides detailed explanatory context
The short version

What changed, and why it matters

This commit is a routine API cleanup in the rust-bitcoin library. It renames a public key serialization method from `to_bytes` to `serialize`, restores `to_bytes` as a deprecated alias that returns a plain byte vector, and updates internal callers to use the new name. There is no security fix or vulnerability here.

Recommended action

No security action required. Downstream users may migrate from `to_bytes` to `serialize` or `to_vec` before the deprecated alias is removed in a future release.

Security signals we found

No strong security signals were identified.

Risk score

Why this scored 18/100

Our methodology →
Potential impact 0/30
Exploitability 0/25
Stealth signal 0/15
Affected reach 5/15
Confidence 9/10
Evidence quality 4/5
Human-validated context

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