v1.3.0 Technical Update — Enhancing the Ecosystem
The developer community is happy to announce the release of version v1.3.0 and runtime version 1300 to Gear. These updates further improve the user experience and overall the entire ecosystem.
The following mark the highlights of this release:
Crates and Runtime Version Update
This release upgraded the crates and runtime versions to “v1.3.0” (#1300). This adjustment ensures the continued integrity of Gear protocol within the execution layer and user space libraries.
User-space
Testing (gtest):
- Tests now use real instruction costs for its executions, so charging has become more like on-chain (#3808).
- A bug that caused tests to crash when dealing with empty accounts was fixed (#3848).
- Fixed an issue ( gear-wasm-builder) that made it difficult to compile code following the guide (#3864).
- New feature: You can now ask the testing system to retrieve code you previously uploaded using its unique code ID (#3878)
Error handling (gstd):
Error type of gstd containing reply error code was extended. The error type in gstd now includes additional information, specifically the error reply code, making error handling more informative (#3808).
Overall:
These changes improve the testing framework (gtest) and error handling (gstd), making writing and debugging code easier.
Node Binary Updates
This update requires updating Node bin to ensure optimal performance, security and compatibility.
Runtime Enhancements & Bug Fixes
The Node client, which handles executing programs and initializing WASM modules on a blockchain, has been improved (#3801).
- It now uses in-memory LRU caching instead of constantly accessing disk space. This reduces costs for running programs but requires more hardware RAM.
- The RAM usage is carefully limited to ensure safety. The previous method is still available and will be activated if there are any issues with the RAM caching.
On-chain codes now include a stack end parameter, which improves how they are handled and makes the blockchain’s pallets simpler and safer (#3811).
Key Features v1.3.0 Release
Gear repo migrated to a new fork (polkadot-sdk) and updated used substrate version to v1.1.0 (#3814);
- The Gear repository has been moved to a new version called “polkadot-sdk” and has been updated to use Substrate version v1.1.0.
- If you’re using JavaScript applications, ensure that all your standard Substrate interfaces are properly updated.
First built in actor implemented (#3771):
- The first built-in actor, based on #3624, is now live! It enables on-chain querying via RPC call of pallet-gear-builtin, implementing bls12–381 logic outside WASM runtime. It’s efficient and allows for frequent block executions, enabling various web2 scenarios on-chain. Ensure node client update for compatibility.
- Having such basic cryptography enables many web2 scenarios to be implemented on the blockchain.
- Upgrading your node client is crucial for implementing block imports or staying online. Node replacement is necessary before network upgrades
Full Changelog
For a comprehensive list of changes, please refer to the Full Changelog.
Be prepared and stay tuned for essential technical updates.
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