6293b9d218
For writing tests, it is often desirable to create a certain situation
that would be tedious, or even impossible to create by sending
individual transactions.
For example, a common attack vector on Solana is to create a copy of
some existing account that stores configuration data, but manipulate the
data stored there, and then to call a program and pass in the
manipulated account, instead of the real account.
If one wants to test this, one option is to write a program that you can
call to write arbitrary data into a new account account (and possibly
change its owner), then include that program in the test context, and
send a transaction to call it. This is extremely tedious, and developers
are not going to bother doing it. I myself would rather fork
solana-program-test to add this `set_account` method, than to write that
program. Having a “god mode” method to just write an account, lowers the
barrier to writing comprehensive tests.
A second reason for introducing this method, is defense in depth. There
may be states of the bank that are not reachable *yet* by only sending
transactions, but that you might want to test against either way. For
example, right now, the balance of a stake account cannot decrease
without going through the stake program. But what if Solana were to
introduce slashing in the future, and you want to ensure your program is
robust against decreases in stake account balance? Right now there is no
way to test this, but by introducing this “god mode” to write accounts,
the situation becomes testable.
(cherry picked from commit e7fa412465)
Building
1. Install rustc, cargo and rustfmt.
$ curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh
$ source $HOME/.cargo/env
$ rustup component add rustfmt
Please make sure you are always using the latest stable rust version by running:
$ rustup update
On Linux systems you may need to install libssl-dev, pkg-config, zlib1g-dev, etc. On Ubuntu:
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install libssl-dev libudev-dev pkg-config zlib1g-dev llvm clang make
On Mac M1s, make sure you set up your terminal & homebrew to use Rosetta. You can install it with:
$ softwareupdate --install-rosetta
2. Download the source code.
$ git clone https://github.com/solana-labs/solana.git
$ cd solana
3. Build.
$ cargo build
Testing
Run the test suite:
$ cargo test
Starting a local testnet
Start your own testnet locally, instructions are in the online docs.
Accessing the remote development cluster
devnet- stable public cluster for development accessible via devnet.solana.com. Runs 24/7. Learn more about the public clusters
Benchmarking
First install the nightly build of rustc. cargo bench requires use of the
unstable features only available in the nightly build.
$ rustup install nightly
Run the benchmarks:
$ cargo +nightly bench
Release Process
The release process for this project is described here.
Code coverage
To generate code coverage statistics:
$ scripts/coverage.sh
$ open target/cov/lcov-local/index.html
Why coverage? While most see coverage as a code quality metric, we see it primarily as a developer productivity metric. When a developer makes a change to the codebase, presumably it's a solution to some problem. Our unit-test suite is how we encode the set of problems the codebase solves. Running the test suite should indicate that your change didn't infringe on anyone else's solutions. Adding a test protects your solution from future changes. Say you don't understand why a line of code exists, try deleting it and running the unit-tests. The nearest test failure should tell you what problem was solved by that code. If no test fails, go ahead and submit a Pull Request that asks, "what problem is solved by this code?" On the other hand, if a test does fail and you can think of a better way to solve the same problem, a Pull Request with your solution would most certainly be welcome! Likewise, if rewriting a test can better communicate what code it's protecting, please send us that patch!
Disclaimer
All claims, content, designs, algorithms, estimates, roadmaps, specifications, and performance measurements described in this project are done with the Solana Foundation's ("SF") best efforts. It is up to the reader to check and validate their accuracy and truthfulness. Furthermore nothing in this project constitutes a solicitation for investment.
Any content produced by SF or developer resources that SF provides, are for educational and inspiration purposes only. SF does not encourage, induce or sanction the deployment, integration or use of any such applications (including the code comprising the Solana blockchain protocol) in violation of applicable laws or regulations and hereby prohibits any such deployment, integration or use. This includes use of any such applications by the reader (a) in violation of export control or sanctions laws of the United States or any other applicable jurisdiction, (b) if the reader is located in or ordinarily resident in a country or territory subject to comprehensive sanctions administered by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), or (c) if the reader is or is working on behalf of a Specially Designated National (SDN) or a person subject to similar blocking or denied party prohibitions.
The reader should be aware that U.S. export control and sanctions laws prohibit U.S. persons (and other persons that are subject to such laws) from transacting with persons in certain countries and territories or that are on the SDN list. As a project based primarily on open-source software, it is possible that such sanctioned persons may nevertheless bypass prohibitions, obtain the code comprising the Solana blockchain protocol (or other project code or applications) and deploy, integrate, or otherwise use it. Accordingly, there is a risk to individuals that other persons using the Solana blockchain protocol may be sanctioned persons and that transactions with such persons would be a violation of U.S. export controls and sanctions law. This risk applies to individuals, organizations, and other ecosystem participants that deploy, integrate, or use the Solana blockchain protocol code directly (e.g., as a node operator), and individuals that transact on the Solana blockchain through light clients, third party interfaces, and/or wallet software.