Application: Polkadot Runtime Releaser

applications/polkadot-runtime-releaser.md

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+# Polkadot Runtime Releaser
+
+- **Team Name:** hack-ink
+- **Payment Address:**
+  - 156HGo9setPcU2qhFMVWLkcmtCEGySLwNqa3DaEiYSWtte4Y (AssetHub) USDC 50%
+  - 156HGo9setPcU2qhFMVWLkcmtCEGySLwNqa3DaEiYSWtte4Y (Polkadot) DOT  50%
+- **[Level](https://github.com/w3f/Grants-Program/tree/master#level_slider-levels):** 2
+
+## Project Overview :page_facing_up:
+
+### 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?
+  - The log affects the runtime file size.
+  - The rustc/OS version affects the compiled artifacts.
+  - There are also some unclear things of the srtool.
+    - E.G. https://substrate.stackexchange.com/questions/11686/getting-error-rust-nightly-not-installed-when-starting-an-srtool-container-to-bu​a
+- 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 Action | Trigger                                                  | Output                                                                                                                  |
+| --------------: | -------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+|     try-runtime | Comment `/bot try-runtime <network>` under the PR.       | Bot will comment the try-runtime result under the PR.                                                                   |
+| Runtime release | Usually by tag, this can be configured by users.         | Build and release the runtime files.                                                                                    |
+|   WASM override | Runtime release action will notify this action.          | Build and push the runtime files to the repository.                                                                     |
+|    Node release | It'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 :busts_in_silhouette:
+
+### Team members
+
+- Xavier Lau
+
+### Contact
+
+- **Contact Name:** Xavier Lau
+- **Contact Email:** [email protected]
+- **Website:** https://linktr.ee/aurevoirxavier
+
+### Legal Structure
+
+Personal. (no legal structure entry)
+
+### Team's experience
+
+[Xavier Lau](https://github.com/AurevoirXavier)
+
+- Seven years of experience in Rust.
+- Four years of experience in Substrate.
+- Darwinia Network core developer, since 2019.
+- Actively at [Substrate StackExchange](https://substrate.stackexchange.com/users/251/aurevoirxavier).
+- Grants contributor, [Subalfred](https://github.com/hack-ink/subalfred), [Slothunter](https://github.com/hack-ink/slothunter).
+
+### Team Code Repos
+
+- https://github.com/hack-ink
+- https://github.com/hack-ink/AiR
+- https://github.com/hack-ink/array-bytes
+- https://github.com/hack-ink/atomicalsir
+- https://github.com/hack-ink/subalfred
+
+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.
+
+- https://github.com/AurevoirXavier
+
+### Team LinkedIn Profiles (if available)
+
+- https://www.linkedin.com/in/xavier-lau-b0655310a
+
+### 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
+
+| Number | Deliverable                   | Specification                                                                                                         |
+| -----: | ----------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+|    0a. | License                       | GPLv3                                                                                                                 |
+|    0b. | Documentation                 | There will be a guide to tell people how to use this and inline docs will cover core functionalities.                                                                 |
+|    0c. | Testing guide                 | There 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 CI                | Comment on a release PR and see the try-runtime result.                                                               |
+|     2. | Release CI                    | Build and release the deterministic runtime and the node files.                                                       |
+|     3. | WASM override tool            | It can build the specify feature WASM in one step and manage them well in the corresponding folder.                   |
+|     4. | WASM override CI              | Listen for build requests from the release CI.                                                                        |
+|     5. | Version compare tool          | It can retrieve the on-chain runtime version and compare it with the latest GitHub tag.                               |
+|     6. | Release repository release CI | Based on the version comparison tool result, proceed to release the new version in this repository.                   |
+|     7. | Releases                      | GitHub release.                                                                                                       |
+
+## Future Plans
+
+- Keep connected with the community/parity and make it better.
+
+## Additional Information :heavy_plus_sign:
+
+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.