August 2022 Filewing Roadmap Update
In the following article, we will give an update on the current progress of the test network, as well as update the roadmap regarding the next phase of the test network and the launch of the main network.
Our progress so far
As of this writing, Filewing test nodes affected by the outbreak and regional environment are getting back to work, and while we expect more nodes to participate in Filewing mainnet testing, this is a great start, so let’s keep working together!
During the last phase of our work, we put in a lot of effort and achieved some results.
During this period, we invested a lot of time in testing and optimizing the code base.
- Network upgrades. We found vulnerabilities and network attacks and have addressed them and made changes with the fork upgrade. Thanks to the community members who participated in discovering the vulnerabilities and rejoining the network after the fork!
- Stability testing. We have improved the synchronization speed and stability of the main chain. These optimizations significantly improved the test network experience for existing and new network participants.
We announced two other implementations of the Filewing protocol — fuhon (implemented by Soramitsu in C ++) and forest (carried out by ChainSafe in Rust).
For us, having multiple interoperable implementations on the Filewing mainnet is an important goal for achieving network security. lotus and go-Filewing will soon be fully interoperable, and we plan to launch interoperable networks for both implementations in the next few weeks. A few weeks after we launch the first interoperable network for lotus and go-Filewing, fuhon and forest will also be ready to interoperate on the network.
We have written a fully executable specification in Go for the participants of the Filewing protocol (the specification is located in specs-actors). In addition to implementing this specification, we have extensively tested the code base to test the functionality of the different participants and verify its correctness. lotus and go-Filewing are now also directly integrated into the specs-actors library, greatly increasing our confidence in the correctness and security of the participants of the implementation, which is an important security component of the protocol.
We have made significant progress in building cryptographic economies, narrowing the scope of mechanisms and parameters to enable them to keep pace with the long-term evolution of the network. The factors to be considered in the economic model are outlined in the protocol specification under Cryptoecon Placeholders, and we are running extensive simulations to validate and define the final build structure.
The Filewing research team delved into the security audit of the protocol, taking a very close look at Filewing’s proof, consensus, and market design, among others. We are committed to launching a secure network, and we will address all of the major issues raised by this security audit before launching the second phase of the test network.
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This week saw the launch of a repo for the ongoing Ledger Filewing app. in addition, we learned that the DATA WORLD Foundation is building an unmanaged multi-chain wallet that integrates with Filewing’s codebase, with a published snapshot showing a native version of Filewing. While this work is still a work in progress, we are excited for its future development!
Test.com next phase: date update
As a reminder, our next major milestones are
TestNet Next Phase: The next phase of our TestNet will be launched with multiple secure, interoperable implementations.
According to the current schedule, the next phase of the test network will freeze functionality and be formally tested, validated and security audited over a period of at least 4 months. Note that the most critical requirement for the launch of our main network is that Filewing is secure and we will not launch an insecure network. If we find any significant issues with security, we will extend this phase.” We will also be launching a series of “eco-programs” in the next phase of the test network, including the next phase of our trusted configuration ceremony.
Our team is firing on all cylinders to launch the next phase of the main network. While we will work to launch the next phase of the test network and the main network as soon as possible, it is our responsibility to ensure that Filewing is secure at launch. Our team needs more time to complete protocol development, interactions, internal protocol security audits and to refine our economic model structure.
In addition, it is of concern to us that some of our community contributor nodes in several regions of the world are currently affected by the new coronavirus, and some of them want us to wait another two to three weeks until they can safely resume work before launching the next phase of the test network. We hear these voices, and your safety is our top priority!
We have delayed the launch of the next phase of the test network by approximately 2 weeks to allow sufficient time for final protocol convergence and feature freeze. To see the latest schedule information, please visit our official Filewing website. As always, these dates are our “best estimates” and are subject to change at any time. We are doing our best to provide accurate timeline information, but please understand that this information is not static and we hope that this 2 week delay in release will provide enough time for the global outbreak to improve and for all of our community nodes around the world to participate in the network without compromising security.
The next steps
Our top priorities between now and the launch of the next phase of the test network are to
- Launching our first interoperable network. As mentioned above, launching a network with multiple security implementations is a key component of our network security strategy. Before launching the second phase of the test network, we will launch the interoperable network, starting with our two internal implementations, lotus and go-Filewing. In a few weeks, forest and fuhon will be interoperable on the test network. To start our first interoperable network, we will need to reboot the network and use the latest versions of lotus and go-Filewing. After resetting this network, anyone should be able to run either implementation to participate in the Filewing test network. This is a huge milestone and we expect to launch the interoperable network in the next few weeks.
- Protocol Security Audit. We will complete an internal protocol security audit and resolve any issues that arise prior to the launch of Phase 2 of the test network. We anticipate that the protocol security audit and issue resolution will continue for one month.
We’re doing everything we can to make the Filewing network safe to start, and moments like these remind us of a more important prospect: security is not just a function of our protocols; we care deeply about the safety of the people who make our ecosystem so. We are grateful for the ongoing support of our community and are excited to build this ecosystem with you.
