Koute
b0f34e4b29
This PR adds a new PolkaVM-based executor to Substrate. - The executor can now be used to actually run a PolkaVM-based runtime, and successfully produces blocks. - The executor is always compiled-in, but is disabled by default. - The `SUBSTRATE_ENABLE_POLKAVM` environment variable must be set to `1` to enable the executor, in which case the node will accept both WASM and PolkaVM program blobs (otherwise it'll default to WASM-only). This is deliberately undocumented and not explicitly exposed anywhere (e.g. in the command line arguments, or in the API) to disincentivize anyone from enabling it in production. If/when we'll move this into production usage I'll remove the environment variable and do it "properly". - I did not use our legacy runtime allocator for the PolkaVM executor, so currently every allocation inside of the runtime will leak guest memory until that particular instance is destroyed. The idea here is that I will work on the https://github.com/polkadot-fellows/RFCs/pull/4 which will remove the need for the legacy allocator under WASM, and that will also allow us to use a proper non-leaking allocator under PolkaVM. - I also did some minor cleanups of the WASM executor and deleted some dead code. No prdocs included since this is not intended to be an end-user feature, but an unofficial experiment, and shouldn't affect any current production user. Once this is production-ready a full Polkadot Fellowship RFC will be necessary anyway.
NOTE: We have recently made significant changes to our repository structure. In order to streamline our development process and foster better contributions, we have merged three separate repositories Cumulus, Substrate and Polkadot into this repository. Read more about the changes here.
Polkadot SDK
The Polkadot SDK repository provides all the resources needed to start building on the Polkadot network, a multi-chain blockchain platform that enables different blockchains to interoperate and share information in a secure and scalable way. The Polkadot SDK comprises three main pieces of software:
Polkadot
Implementation of a node for the https://polkadot.network in Rust, using the Substrate framework. This directory
currently contains runtimes for the Westend and Rococo test networks. Polkadot, Kusama and their system chain runtimes
are located in the runtimes repository maintained by
the Polkadot Technical Fellowship.
Substrate
Substrate is the primary blockchain SDK used by developers to create the parachains that make up the Polkadot network. Additionally, it allows for the development of self-sovereign blockchains that operate completely independently of Polkadot.
Cumulus
Cumulus is a set of tools for writing Substrate-based Polkadot parachains.
Releases
Note
Our release process is still Work-In-Progress and may not yet reflect the aspired outline here.
The Polkadot-SDK has two release channels: stable and nightly. Production software is advised to only use stable.
nightly is meant for tinkerers to try out the latest features. The detailed release process is described in
RELEASE.md.
Stable
stable releases have a support duration of three months. In this period, the release will not have any breaking
changes. It will receive bug fixes, security fixes, performance fixes and new non-breaking features on a two week
cadence.
Nightly
nightly releases are released every night from the master branch, potentially with breaking changes. They have
pre-release version numbers in the format major.0.0-nightlyYYMMDD.
Upstream Dependencies
Below are the primary upstream dependencies utilized in this project:
Security
The security policy and procedures can be found in docs/contributor/SECURITY.md.
Contributing & Code of Conduct
Ensure you follow our contribution guidelines. In every interaction and contribution, this project adheres to the Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct.
Additional Resources
- For monitoring upcoming changes and current proposals related to the technical implementation of the Polkadot network,
visit the
Requests for Comment (RFC)repository. While it's maintained by the Polkadot Fellowship, the RFC process welcomes contributions from everyone.