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Polkadot Runtime Releaser

  • Team Name: hack-ink
  • Payment Address:
    • 156HGo9setPcU2qhFMVWLkcmtCEGySLwNqa3DaEiYSWtte4Y (AssetHub) USDC 50%
    • 156HGo9setPcU2qhFMVWLkcmtCEGySLwNqa3DaEiYSWtte4Y (Polkadot) DOT 50%
  • Level: 2

Project Overview 📄​

Overview​

Polkadot Runtime Releaser aka PRR.

Since last year, my work is mainly focused on the chain/node maintenance. Runtime upgrade is a great feature for the Polkadot-SDK. But there are lots of potential issues that could happen during the runtime upgrade. Especially to the new teams, they might not have enough experience to handle it.

  • How to setup a try-runtime CI?
  • How to setup the release CI?
  • When to notify the community to upgrade the node?
    • Collator/Validator nodes should be upgraded first.
    • RPC suppliers should be upgraded later.
      • I saw some EVM RPCs require the runtime version to be equal to the node version.
  • How to host a wasm-override repository for the community?
    • Debug log WASM.
      • We always use sp-api/disable-logging in the release build, so no more detail logs in the general runtime.
      • We can enable the sp-debug-derive/force-debug in the debug build, so we can get more logs instead of WASM stripped (I think people often see this a lot while they are trying to get some debug log).
    • EVM tracing WASM.
      • For some EVM chains, they need to trace the EVM execution.

PRR's goal is to streamline the process of releasing a new runtime for the Polkadot-SDK-based chain. It provides a standard way to release a new runtime, including the CI setup, runtime upgrade notification, and wasm-override repository hosting.

Ecosystem Fit​

For any Polkadot-SDK-based chain, they could use PRR to release their runtime. It's a tool that could help them to release the runtime in a more standard way.

Details(spec)​

For PRR's utilization, the chain team requires two repositories: one for their code and another for the release.

Take foo-network as an example. They should have two repositories, foo-network/foo and foo-network/foo-release.

foo-network/foo is the base Polkadot-SDK-based chain repository that everyone should have.

foo-network/foo-release is a new repository that PRR requires. It will have 2 branches, foo and bar if they have 2 networks, foo(mainnet) and bar(canary network). It will host the override WASMs and the release under the corresponding network branch.

For collator/validator nodes, they should monitor the foo-network/foo repository release as usual. For RPC suppliers or service node, they should monitor the foo-network/foo-release repository release, it's a more stable version. It will only be published once the on-chain runtime upgrade get confirmed.

PRR will supply these components, which will all be hosted in one repository.

  • A GitHub Action to response the try-runtime. (Users can comment something like /bot try-runtime <network> under a release PR to trigger this action.)
  • A GitHub Action to build the release runtime.
  • A GitHub Action to notify release repository there is a new release that release repository can start preparing the override WASMs.
  • A GitHub Action and a tool to monitor the on-chain runtime version and compare it with the release runtime version to trigger the release on the release repository.
  • A tool to build and manage the override WASMs.
GitHub ActionTriggerOutput
try-runtimeComment /bot try-runtime <network> under the PR.Bot will comment the try-runtime result under the PR.
Runtime releaseUsually by tag, this can be configured by users.Build and release the runtime files.
WASM overrideRuntime release action will notify this action.Build and push the runtime files to the repository.
Node releaseIt's a scheduled action that runs every hour by default.Retrieve the on-chain runtime version and compare it with the latest GitHub tag to determine if a release is necessary.

Each component will have a very detailed guide to help the chain team to set up.

Team 👥​

Team members​

  • Xavier Lau

Contact​

Personal. (no legal structure entry)

Team's experience​

Xavier Lau

Team Code Repos​

Please also provide the GitHub accounts of all team members. If they contain no activity, references to projects hosted elsewhere or live are also fine.

Team LinkedIn Profiles (if available)​

Overview​

  • Total Estimated Duration: 8 weeks
  • Full-Time Equivalent (FTE): 1 FTE
  • Total Costs: 22,500 USD

Milestone 1 Polkadot Runtime Releaser Tool Set​

  • Estimated duration: 8 weeks
  • FTE: 1
  • Costs: 22,500 USD
NumberDeliverableSpecification
0a.LicenseGPLv3
0b.DocumentationThere will be a guide to tell people how to use this and inline docs will cover core functionalities.
0c.Testing guideThere will be a guide and a demo repository to tell the auditor how to run the tests. All components will be covered.
1.Try-runtime CIComment on a release PR and see the try-runtime result.
2.Release CIBuild and release the deterministic runtime and the node files.
3.WASM override toolIt can build the specify feature WASM in one step and manage them well in the corresponding folder.
4.WASM override CIListen for build requests from the release CI.
5.Version compare toolIt can retrieve the on-chain runtime version and compare it with the latest GitHub tag.
6.Release repository release CIBased on the version comparison tool result, proceed to release the new version in this repository.
7.ReleasesGitHub release.

Future Plans​

  • Keep connected with the community/parity and make it better.

Additional Information ➕​

Since every component is connected closely, I prefer to finish them all in one milestone for easy auditing and testing.

How did you hear about the Grants Program? GitHub.