- move the abci spec from tendermint to spec repo Signed-off-by: Marko Baricevic <marbar3778@yahoo.com>pull/7804/head
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# Overview | |||||
ABCI is the interface between Tendermint (a state-machine replication engine) | |||||
and your application (the actual state machine). It consists of a set of | |||||
_methods_, where each method has a corresponding `Request` and `Response` | |||||
message type. Tendermint calls the ABCI methods on the ABCI application by sending the `Request*` | |||||
messages and receiving the `Response*` messages in return. | |||||
All message types are defined in a [protobuf file](https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/blob/master/abci/types/types.proto). | |||||
This allows Tendermint to run applications written in any programming language. | |||||
This specification is split as follows: | |||||
- [Methods and Types](./abci.md) - complete details on all ABCI methods and | |||||
message types | |||||
- [Applications](./apps.md) - how to manage ABCI application state and other | |||||
details about building ABCI applications | |||||
- [Client and Server](./client-server.md) - for those looking to implement their | |||||
own ABCI application servers |
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# Methods and Types | |||||
## Overview | |||||
The ABCI message types are defined in a [protobuf | |||||
file](https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/blob/master/abci/types/types.proto). | |||||
ABCI methods are split across 3 separate ABCI _connections_: | |||||
- `Consensus Connection`: `InitChain, BeginBlock, DeliverTx, EndBlock, Commit` | |||||
- `Mempool Connection`: `CheckTx` | |||||
- `Info Connection`: `Info, SetOption, Query` | |||||
The `Consensus Connection` is driven by a consensus protocol and is responsible | |||||
for block execution. | |||||
The `Mempool Connection` is for validating new transactions, before they're | |||||
shared or included in a block. | |||||
The `Info Connection` is for initialization and for queries from the user. | |||||
Additionally, there is a `Flush` method that is called on every connection, | |||||
and an `Echo` method that is just for debugging. | |||||
More details on managing state across connections can be found in the section on | |||||
[ABCI Applications](apps.md). | |||||
## Errors | |||||
Some methods (`Echo, Info, InitChain, BeginBlock, EndBlock, Commit`), | |||||
don't return errors because an error would indicate a critical failure | |||||
in the application and there's nothing Tendermint can do. The problem | |||||
should be addressed and both Tendermint and the application restarted. | |||||
All other methods (`SetOption, Query, CheckTx, DeliverTx`) return an | |||||
application-specific response `Code uint32`, where only `0` is reserved | |||||
for `OK`. | |||||
Finally, `Query`, `CheckTx`, and `DeliverTx` include a `Codespace string`, whose | |||||
intended use is to disambiguate `Code` values returned by different domains of the | |||||
application. The `Codespace` is a namespace for the `Code`. | |||||
## Events | |||||
Some methods (`CheckTx, BeginBlock, DeliverTx, EndBlock`) | |||||
include an `Events` field in their `Response*`. Each event contains a type and a | |||||
list of attributes, which are key-value pairs denoting something about what happened | |||||
during the method's execution. | |||||
Events can be used to index transactions and blocks according to what happened | |||||
during their execution. Note that the set of events returned for a block from | |||||
`BeginBlock` and `EndBlock` are merged. In case both methods return the same | |||||
tag, only the value defined in `EndBlock` is used. | |||||
Each event has a `type` which is meant to categorize the event for a particular | |||||
`Response*` or tx. A `Response*` or tx may contain multiple events with duplicate | |||||
`type` values, where each distinct entry is meant to categorize attributes for a | |||||
particular event. Every key and value in an event's attributes must be UTF-8 | |||||
encoded strings along with the even type itself. | |||||
Example: | |||||
```go | |||||
abci.ResponseDeliverTx{ | |||||
// ... | |||||
Events: []abci.Event{ | |||||
{ | |||||
Type: "validator.provisions", | |||||
Attributes: cmn.KVPairs{ | |||||
cmn.KVPair{Key: []byte("address"), Value: []byte("...")}, | |||||
cmn.KVPair{Key: []byte("amount"), Value: []byte("...")}, | |||||
cmn.KVPair{Key: []byte("balance"), Value: []byte("...")}, | |||||
}, | |||||
}, | |||||
{ | |||||
Type: "validator.provisions", | |||||
Attributes: cmn.KVPairs{ | |||||
cmn.KVPair{Key: []byte("address"), Value: []byte("...")}, | |||||
cmn.KVPair{Key: []byte("amount"), Value: []byte("...")}, | |||||
cmn.KVPair{Key: []byte("balance"), Value: []byte("...")}, | |||||
}, | |||||
}, | |||||
{ | |||||
Type: "validator.slashed", | |||||
Attributes: cmn.KVPairs{ | |||||
cmn.KVPair{Key: []byte("address"), Value: []byte("...")}, | |||||
cmn.KVPair{Key: []byte("amount"), Value: []byte("...")}, | |||||
cmn.KVPair{Key: []byte("reason"), Value: []byte("...")}, | |||||
}, | |||||
}, | |||||
// ... | |||||
}, | |||||
} | |||||
``` | |||||
## Determinism | |||||
ABCI applications must implement deterministic finite-state machines to be | |||||
securely replicated by the Tendermint consensus. This means block execution | |||||
over the Consensus Connection must be strictly deterministic: given the same | |||||
ordered set of requests, all nodes will compute identical responses, for all | |||||
BeginBlock, DeliverTx, EndBlock, and Commit. This is critical, because the | |||||
responses are included in the header of the next block, either via a Merkle root | |||||
or directly, so all nodes must agree on exactly what they are. | |||||
For this reason, it is recommended that applications not be exposed to any | |||||
external user or process except via the ABCI connections to a consensus engine | |||||
like Tendermint Core. The application must only change its state based on input | |||||
from block execution (BeginBlock, DeliverTx, EndBlock, Commit), and not through | |||||
any other kind of request. This is the only way to ensure all nodes see the same | |||||
transactions and compute the same results. | |||||
If there is some non-determinism in the state machine, consensus will eventually | |||||
fail as nodes disagree over the correct values for the block header. The | |||||
non-determinism must be fixed and the nodes restarted. | |||||
Sources of non-determinism in applications may include: | |||||
- Hardware failures | |||||
- Cosmic rays, overheating, etc. | |||||
- Node-dependent state | |||||
- Random numbers | |||||
- Time | |||||
- Underspecification | |||||
- Library version changes | |||||
- Race conditions | |||||
- Floating point numbers | |||||
- JSON serialization | |||||
- Iterating through hash-tables/maps/dictionaries | |||||
- External Sources | |||||
- Filesystem | |||||
- Network calls (eg. some external REST API service) | |||||
See [#56](https://github.com/tendermint/abci/issues/56) for original discussion. | |||||
Note that some methods (`SetOption, Query, CheckTx, DeliverTx`) return | |||||
explicitly non-deterministic data in the form of `Info` and `Log` fields. The `Log` is | |||||
intended for the literal output from the application's logger, while the | |||||
`Info` is any additional info that should be returned. These are the only fields | |||||
that are not included in block header computations, so we don't need agreement | |||||
on them. All other fields in the `Response*` must be strictly deterministic. | |||||
## Block Execution | |||||
The first time a new blockchain is started, Tendermint calls | |||||
`InitChain`. From then on, the following sequence of methods is executed for each | |||||
block: | |||||
`BeginBlock, [DeliverTx], EndBlock, Commit` | |||||
where one `DeliverTx` is called for each transaction in the block. | |||||
The result is an updated application state. | |||||
Cryptographic commitments to the results of DeliverTx, EndBlock, and | |||||
Commit are included in the header of the next block. | |||||
## Messages | |||||
### Echo | |||||
- **Request**: | |||||
- `Message (string)`: A string to echo back | |||||
- **Response**: | |||||
- `Message (string)`: The input string | |||||
- **Usage**: | |||||
- Echo a string to test an abci client/server implementation | |||||
### Flush | |||||
- **Usage**: | |||||
- Signals that messages queued on the client should be flushed to | |||||
the server. It is called periodically by the client | |||||
implementation to ensure asynchronous requests are actually | |||||
sent, and is called immediately to make a synchronous request, | |||||
which returns when the Flush response comes back. | |||||
### Info | |||||
- **Request**: | |||||
- `Version (string)`: The Tendermint software semantic version | |||||
- `BlockVersion (uint64)`: The Tendermint Block Protocol version | |||||
- `P2PVersion (uint64)`: The Tendermint P2P Protocol version | |||||
- **Response**: | |||||
- `Data (string)`: Some arbitrary information | |||||
- `Version (string)`: The application software semantic version | |||||
- `AppVersion (uint64)`: The application protocol version | |||||
- `LastBlockHeight (int64)`: Latest block for which the app has | |||||
called Commit | |||||
- `LastBlockAppHash ([]byte)`: Latest result of Commit | |||||
- **Usage**: | |||||
- Return information about the application state. | |||||
- Used to sync Tendermint with the application during a handshake | |||||
that happens on startup. | |||||
- The returned `AppVersion` will be included in the Header of every block. | |||||
- Tendermint expects `LastBlockAppHash` and `LastBlockHeight` to | |||||
be updated during `Commit`, ensuring that `Commit` is never | |||||
called twice for the same block height. | |||||
### SetOption | |||||
- **Request**: | |||||
- `Key (string)`: Key to set | |||||
- `Value (string)`: Value to set for key | |||||
- **Response**: | |||||
- `Code (uint32)`: Response code | |||||
- `Log (string)`: The output of the application's logger. May | |||||
be non-deterministic. | |||||
- `Info (string)`: Additional information. May | |||||
be non-deterministic. | |||||
- **Usage**: | |||||
- Set non-consensus critical application specific options. | |||||
- e.g. Key="min-fee", Value="100fermion" could set the minimum fee | |||||
required for CheckTx (but not DeliverTx - that would be | |||||
consensus critical). | |||||
### InitChain | |||||
- **Request**: | |||||
- `Time (google.protobuf.Timestamp)`: Genesis time. | |||||
- `ChainID (string)`: ID of the blockchain. | |||||
- `ConsensusParams (ConsensusParams)`: Initial consensus-critical parameters. | |||||
- `Validators ([]ValidatorUpdate)`: Initial genesis validators. | |||||
- `AppStateBytes ([]byte)`: Serialized initial application state. Amino-encoded JSON bytes. | |||||
- **Response**: | |||||
- `ConsensusParams (ConsensusParams)`: Initial | |||||
consensus-critical parameters. | |||||
- `Validators ([]ValidatorUpdate)`: Initial validator set (if non empty). | |||||
- **Usage**: | |||||
- Called once upon genesis. | |||||
- If ResponseInitChain.Validators is empty, the initial validator set will be the RequestInitChain.Validators | |||||
- If ResponseInitChain.Validators is not empty, the initial validator set will be the | |||||
ResponseInitChain.Validators (regardless of what is in RequestInitChain.Validators). | |||||
- This allows the app to decide if it wants to accept the initial validator | |||||
set proposed by tendermint (ie. in the genesis file), or if it wants to use | |||||
a different one (perhaps computed based on some application specific | |||||
information in the genesis file). | |||||
### Query | |||||
- **Request**: | |||||
- `Data ([]byte)`: Raw query bytes. Can be used with or in lieu | |||||
of Path. | |||||
- `Path (string)`: Path of request, like an HTTP GET path. Can be | |||||
used with or in liue of Data. | |||||
- Apps MUST interpret '/store' as a query by key on the | |||||
underlying store. The key SHOULD be specified in the Data field. | |||||
- Apps SHOULD allow queries over specific types like | |||||
'/accounts/...' or '/votes/...' | |||||
- `Height (int64)`: The block height for which you want the query | |||||
(default=0 returns data for the latest committed block). Note | |||||
that this is the height of the block containing the | |||||
application's Merkle root hash, which represents the state as it | |||||
was after committing the block at Height-1 | |||||
- `Prove (bool)`: Return Merkle proof with response if possible | |||||
- **Response**: | |||||
- `Code (uint32)`: Response code. | |||||
- `Log (string)`: The output of the application's logger. May | |||||
be non-deterministic. | |||||
- `Info (string)`: Additional information. May | |||||
be non-deterministic. | |||||
- `Index (int64)`: The index of the key in the tree. | |||||
- `Key ([]byte)`: The key of the matching data. | |||||
- `Value ([]byte)`: The value of the matching data. | |||||
- `Proof (Proof)`: Serialized proof for the value data, if requested, to be | |||||
verified against the `AppHash` for the given Height. | |||||
- `Height (int64)`: The block height from which data was derived. | |||||
Note that this is the height of the block containing the | |||||
application's Merkle root hash, which represents the state as it | |||||
was after committing the block at Height-1 | |||||
- `Codespace (string)`: Namespace for the `Code`. | |||||
- **Usage**: | |||||
- Query for data from the application at current or past height. | |||||
- Optionally return Merkle proof. | |||||
- Merkle proof includes self-describing `type` field to support many types | |||||
of Merkle trees and encoding formats. | |||||
### BeginBlock | |||||
- **Request**: | |||||
- `Hash ([]byte)`: The block's hash. This can be derived from the | |||||
block header. | |||||
- `Header (struct{})`: The block header. | |||||
- `LastCommitInfo (LastCommitInfo)`: Info about the last commit, including the | |||||
round, and the list of validators and which ones signed the last block. | |||||
- `ByzantineValidators ([]Evidence)`: List of evidence of | |||||
validators that acted maliciously. | |||||
- **Response**: | |||||
- `Tags ([]cmn.KVPair)`: Key-Value tags for filtering and indexing | |||||
- **Usage**: | |||||
- Signals the beginning of a new block. Called prior to | |||||
any DeliverTxs. | |||||
- The header contains the height, timestamp, and more - it exactly matches the | |||||
Tendermint block header. We may seek to generalize this in the future. | |||||
- The `LastCommitInfo` and `ByzantineValidators` can be used to determine | |||||
rewards and punishments for the validators. NOTE validators here do not | |||||
include pubkeys. | |||||
### CheckTx | |||||
- **Request**: | |||||
- `Tx ([]byte)`: The request transaction bytes | |||||
- `Type (CheckTxType)`: What type of `CheckTx` request is this? At present, | |||||
there are two possible values: `CheckTx_New` (the default, which says | |||||
that a full check is required), and `CheckTx_Recheck` (when the mempool is | |||||
initiating a normal recheck of a transaction). | |||||
- **Response**: | |||||
- `Code (uint32)`: Response code | |||||
- `Data ([]byte)`: Result bytes, if any. | |||||
- `Log (string)`: The output of the application's logger. May | |||||
be non-deterministic. | |||||
- `Info (string)`: Additional information. May | |||||
be non-deterministic. | |||||
- `GasWanted (int64)`: Amount of gas requested for transaction. | |||||
- `GasUsed (int64)`: Amount of gas consumed by transaction. | |||||
- `Tags ([]cmn.KVPair)`: Key-Value tags for filtering and indexing | |||||
transactions (eg. by account). | |||||
- `Codespace (string)`: Namespace for the `Code`. | |||||
- **Usage**: | |||||
- Technically optional - not involved in processing blocks. | |||||
- Guardian of the mempool: every node runs CheckTx before letting a | |||||
transaction into its local mempool. | |||||
- The transaction may come from an external user or another node | |||||
- CheckTx need not execute the transaction in full, but rather a light-weight | |||||
yet stateful validation, like checking signatures and account balances, but | |||||
not running code in a virtual machine. | |||||
- Transactions where `ResponseCheckTx.Code != 0` will be rejected - they will not be broadcast to | |||||
other nodes or included in a proposal block. | |||||
- Tendermint attributes no other value to the response code | |||||
### DeliverTx | |||||
- **Request**: | |||||
- `Tx ([]byte)`: The request transaction bytes. | |||||
- **Response**: | |||||
- `Code (uint32)`: Response code. | |||||
- `Data ([]byte)`: Result bytes, if any. | |||||
- `Log (string)`: The output of the application's logger. May | |||||
be non-deterministic. | |||||
- `Info (string)`: Additional information. May | |||||
be non-deterministic. | |||||
- `GasWanted (int64)`: Amount of gas requested for transaction. | |||||
- `GasUsed (int64)`: Amount of gas consumed by transaction. | |||||
- `Tags ([]cmn.KVPair)`: Key-Value tags for filtering and indexing | |||||
transactions (eg. by account). | |||||
- `Codespace (string)`: Namespace for the `Code`. | |||||
- **Usage**: | |||||
- The workhorse of the application - non-optional. | |||||
- Execute the transaction in full. | |||||
- `ResponseDeliverTx.Code == 0` only if the transaction is fully valid. | |||||
### EndBlock | |||||
- **Request**: | |||||
- `Height (int64)`: Height of the block just executed. | |||||
- **Response**: | |||||
- `ValidatorUpdates ([]ValidatorUpdate)`: Changes to validator set (set | |||||
voting power to 0 to remove). | |||||
- `ConsensusParamUpdates (ConsensusParams)`: Changes to | |||||
consensus-critical time, size, and other parameters. | |||||
- `Tags ([]cmn.KVPair)`: Key-Value tags for filtering and indexing | |||||
- **Usage**: | |||||
- Signals the end of a block. | |||||
- Called after all transactions, prior to each Commit. | |||||
- Validator updates returned by block `H` impact blocks `H+1`, `H+2`, and | |||||
`H+3`, but only effects changes on the validator set of `H+2`: | |||||
- `H+1`: NextValidatorsHash | |||||
- `H+2`: ValidatorsHash (and thus the validator set) | |||||
- `H+3`: LastCommitInfo (ie. the last validator set) | |||||
- Consensus params returned for block `H` apply for block `H+1` | |||||
### Commit | |||||
- **Response**: | |||||
- `Data ([]byte)`: The Merkle root hash of the application state | |||||
- **Usage**: | |||||
- Persist the application state. | |||||
- Return an (optional) Merkle root hash of the application state | |||||
- `ResponseCommit.Data` is included as the `Header.AppHash` in the next block | |||||
- it may be empty | |||||
- Later calls to `Query` can return proofs about the application state anchored | |||||
in this Merkle root hash | |||||
- Note developers can return whatever they want here (could be nothing, or a | |||||
constant string, etc.), so long as it is deterministic - it must not be a | |||||
function of anything that did not come from the | |||||
BeginBlock/DeliverTx/EndBlock methods. | |||||
## Data Types | |||||
### Header | |||||
- **Fields**: | |||||
- `Version (Version)`: Version of the blockchain and the application | |||||
- `ChainID (string)`: ID of the blockchain | |||||
- `Height (int64)`: Height of the block in the chain | |||||
- `Time (google.protobuf.Timestamp)`: Time of the previous block. | |||||
For heights > 1, it's the weighted median of the timestamps of the valid | |||||
votes in the block.LastCommit. | |||||
For height == 1, it's genesis time. | |||||
- `NumTxs (int32)`: Number of transactions in the block | |||||
- `TotalTxs (int64)`: Total number of transactions in the blockchain until | |||||
now | |||||
- `LastBlockID (BlockID)`: Hash of the previous (parent) block | |||||
- `LastCommitHash ([]byte)`: Hash of the previous block's commit | |||||
- `ValidatorsHash ([]byte)`: Hash of the validator set for this block | |||||
- `NextValidatorsHash ([]byte)`: Hash of the validator set for the next block | |||||
- `ConsensusHash ([]byte)`: Hash of the consensus parameters for this block | |||||
- `AppHash ([]byte)`: Data returned by the last call to `Commit` - typically the | |||||
Merkle root of the application state after executing the previous block's | |||||
transactions | |||||
- `LastResultsHash ([]byte)`: Hash of the ABCI results returned by the last block | |||||
- `EvidenceHash ([]byte)`: Hash of the evidence included in this block | |||||
- `ProposerAddress ([]byte)`: Original proposer for the block | |||||
- **Usage**: | |||||
- Provided in RequestBeginBlock | |||||
- Provides important context about the current state of the blockchain - | |||||
especially height and time. | |||||
- Provides the proposer of the current block, for use in proposer-based | |||||
reward mechanisms. | |||||
### Version | |||||
- **Fields**: | |||||
- `Block (uint64)`: Protocol version of the blockchain data structures. | |||||
- `App (uint64)`: Protocol version of the application. | |||||
- **Usage**: | |||||
- Block version should be static in the life of a blockchain. | |||||
- App version may be updated over time by the application. | |||||
### Validator | |||||
- **Fields**: | |||||
- `Address ([]byte)`: Address of the validator (hash of the public key) | |||||
- `Power (int64)`: Voting power of the validator | |||||
- **Usage**: | |||||
- Validator identified by address | |||||
- Used in RequestBeginBlock as part of VoteInfo | |||||
- Does not include PubKey to avoid sending potentially large quantum pubkeys | |||||
over the ABCI | |||||
### ValidatorUpdate | |||||
- **Fields**: | |||||
- `PubKey (PubKey)`: Public key of the validator | |||||
- `Power (int64)`: Voting power of the validator | |||||
- **Usage**: | |||||
- Validator identified by PubKey | |||||
- Used to tell Tendermint to update the validator set | |||||
### VoteInfo | |||||
- **Fields**: | |||||
- `Validator (Validator)`: A validator | |||||
- `SignedLastBlock (bool)`: Indicates whether or not the validator signed | |||||
the last block | |||||
- **Usage**: | |||||
- Indicates whether a validator signed the last block, allowing for rewards | |||||
based on validator availability | |||||
### PubKey | |||||
- **Fields**: | |||||
- `Type (string)`: Type of the public key. A simple string like `"ed25519"`. | |||||
In the future, may indicate a serialization algorithm to parse the `Data`, | |||||
for instance `"amino"`. | |||||
- `Data ([]byte)`: Public key data. For a simple public key, it's just the | |||||
raw bytes. If the `Type` indicates an encoding algorithm, this is the | |||||
encoded public key. | |||||
- **Usage**: | |||||
- A generic and extensible typed public key | |||||
### Evidence | |||||
- **Fields**: | |||||
- `Type (string)`: Type of the evidence. A hierarchical path like | |||||
"duplicate/vote". | |||||
- `Validator (Validator`: The offending validator | |||||
- `Height (int64)`: Height when the offense was committed | |||||
- `Time (google.protobuf.Timestamp)`: Time of the block at height `Height`. | |||||
It is the proposer's local time when block was created. | |||||
- `TotalVotingPower (int64)`: Total voting power of the validator set at | |||||
height `Height` | |||||
### LastCommitInfo | |||||
- **Fields**: | |||||
- `Round (int32)`: Commit round. | |||||
- `Votes ([]VoteInfo)`: List of validators addresses in the last validator set | |||||
with their voting power and whether or not they signed a vote. | |||||
### ConsensusParams | |||||
- **Fields**: | |||||
- `Block (BlockParams)`: Parameters limiting the size of a block and time between consecutive blocks. | |||||
- `Evidence (EvidenceParams)`: Parameters limiting the validity of | |||||
evidence of byzantine behaviour. | |||||
- `Validator (ValidatorParams)`: Parameters limitng the types of pubkeys validators can use. | |||||
### BlockParams | |||||
- **Fields**: | |||||
- `MaxBytes (int64)`: Max size of a block, in bytes. | |||||
- `MaxGas (int64)`: Max sum of `GasWanted` in a proposed block. | |||||
- NOTE: blocks that violate this may be committed if there are Byzantine proposers. | |||||
It's the application's responsibility to handle this when processing a | |||||
block! | |||||
### EvidenceParams | |||||
- **Fields**: | |||||
- `MaxAge (int64)`: Max age of evidence, in blocks. Evidence older than this | |||||
is considered stale and ignored. | |||||
- This should correspond with an app's "unbonding period" or other | |||||
similar mechanism for handling Nothing-At-Stake attacks. | |||||
- NOTE: this should change to time (instead of blocks)! | |||||
### ValidatorParams | |||||
- **Fields**: | |||||
- `PubKeyTypes ([]string)`: List of accepted pubkey types. Uses same | |||||
naming as `PubKey.Type`. | |||||
### Proof | |||||
- **Fields**: | |||||
- `Ops ([]ProofOp)`: List of chained Merkle proofs, of possibly different types | |||||
- The Merkle root of one op is the value being proven in the next op. | |||||
- The Merkle root of the final op should equal the ultimate root hash being | |||||
verified against. | |||||
### ProofOp | |||||
- **Fields**: | |||||
- `Type (string)`: Type of Merkle proof and how it's encoded. | |||||
- `Key ([]byte)`: Key in the Merkle tree that this proof is for. | |||||
- `Data ([]byte)`: Encoded Merkle proof for the key. |
@ -0,0 +1,453 @@ | |||||
# Applications | |||||
Please ensure you've first read the spec for [ABCI Methods and Types](abci.md) | |||||
Here we cover the following components of ABCI applications: | |||||
- [Connection State](#state) - the interplay between ABCI connections and application state | |||||
and the differences between `CheckTx` and `DeliverTx`. | |||||
- [Transaction Results](#transaction-results) - rules around transaction | |||||
results and validity | |||||
- [Validator Set Updates](#validator-updates) - how validator sets are | |||||
changed during `InitChain` and `EndBlock` | |||||
- [Query](#query) - standards for using the `Query` method and proofs about the | |||||
application state | |||||
- [Crash Recovery](#crash-recovery) - handshake protocol to synchronize | |||||
Tendermint and the application on startup. | |||||
## State | |||||
Since Tendermint maintains three concurrent ABCI connections, it is typical | |||||
for an application to maintain a distinct state for each, and for the states to | |||||
be synchronized during `Commit`. | |||||
### Commit | |||||
Application state should only be persisted to disk during `Commit`. | |||||
Before `Commit` is called, Tendermint locks and flushes the mempool so that no new messages will | |||||
be received on the mempool connection. This provides an opportunity to safely update all three | |||||
states to the latest committed state at once. | |||||
When `Commit` completes, it unlocks the mempool. | |||||
WARNING: if the ABCI app logic processing the `Commit` message sends a | |||||
`/broadcast_tx_sync` or `/broadcast_tx_commit` and waits for the response | |||||
before proceeding, it will deadlock. Executing those `broadcast_tx` calls | |||||
involves acquiring a lock that is held during the `Commit` call, so it's not | |||||
possible. If you make the call to the `broadcast_tx` endpoints concurrently, | |||||
that's no problem, it just can't be part of the sequential logic of the | |||||
`Commit` function. | |||||
### Consensus Connection | |||||
The Consensus Connection should maintain a `DeliverTxState` - | |||||
the working state for block execution. It should be updated by the calls to | |||||
`BeginBlock`, `DeliverTx`, and `EndBlock` during block execution and committed to | |||||
disk as the "latest committed state" during `Commit`. | |||||
Updates made to the DeliverTxState by each method call must be readable by each subsequent method - | |||||
ie. the updates are linearizable. | |||||
### Mempool Connection | |||||
The Mempool Connection should maintain a `CheckTxState` | |||||
to sequentially process pending transactions in the mempool that have | |||||
not yet been committed. It should be initialized to the latest committed state | |||||
at the end of every `Commit`. | |||||
The CheckTxState may be updated concurrently with the DeliverTxState, as | |||||
messages may be sent concurrently on the Consensus and Mempool connections. However, | |||||
before calling `Commit`, Tendermint will lock and flush the mempool connection, | |||||
ensuring that all existing CheckTx are responded to and no new ones can | |||||
begin. | |||||
After `Commit`, CheckTx is run again on all transactions that remain in the | |||||
node's local mempool after filtering those included in the block. To prevent the | |||||
mempool from rechecking all transactions every time a block is committed, set | |||||
the configuration option `mempool.recheck=false`. As of Tendermint v0.32.1, | |||||
an additional `Type` parameter is made available to the CheckTx function that | |||||
indicates whether an incoming transaction is new (`CheckTxType_New`), or a | |||||
recheck (`CheckTxType_Recheck`). | |||||
Finally, the mempool will unlock and new transactions can be processed through CheckTx again. | |||||
Note that CheckTx doesn't have to check everything that affects transaction validity; the | |||||
expensive things can be skipped. In fact, CheckTx doesn't have to check | |||||
anything; it might say that any transaction is a valid transaction. | |||||
Unlike DeliverTx, CheckTx is just there as | |||||
a sort of weak filter to keep invalid transactions out of the blockchain. It's | |||||
weak, because a Byzantine node doesn't care about CheckTx; it can propose a | |||||
block full of invalid transactions if it wants. | |||||
### Info Connection | |||||
The Info Connection should maintain a `QueryState` for answering queries from the user, | |||||
and for initialization when Tendermint first starts up (both described further | |||||
below). | |||||
It should always contain the latest committed state associated with the | |||||
latest committed block. | |||||
QueryState should be set to the latest `DeliverTxState` at the end of every `Commit`, | |||||
ie. after the full block has been processed and the state committed to disk. | |||||
Otherwise it should never be modified. | |||||
## Transaction Results | |||||
`ResponseCheckTx` and `ResponseDeliverTx` contain the same fields. | |||||
The `Info` and `Log` fields are non-deterministic values for debugging/convenience purposes | |||||
that are otherwise ignored. | |||||
The `Data` field must be strictly deterministic, but can be arbitrary data. | |||||
### Gas | |||||
Ethereum introduced the notion of `gas` as an abstract representation of the | |||||
cost of resources used by nodes when processing transactions. Every operation in the | |||||
Ethereum Virtual Machine uses some amount of gas, and gas can be accepted at a market-variable price. | |||||
Users propose a maximum amount of gas for their transaction; if the tx uses less, they get | |||||
the difference credited back. Tendermint adopts a similar abstraction, | |||||
though uses it only optionally and weakly, allowing applications to define | |||||
their own sense of the cost of execution. | |||||
In Tendermint, the `ConsensusParams.Block.MaxGas` limits the amount of `gas` that can be used in a block. | |||||
The default value is `-1`, meaning no limit, or that the concept of gas is | |||||
meaningless. | |||||
Responses contain a `GasWanted` and `GasUsed` field. The former is the maximum | |||||
amount of gas the sender of a tx is willing to use, and the later is how much it actually | |||||
used. Applications should enforce that `GasUsed <= GasWanted` - ie. tx execution | |||||
should halt before it can use more resources than it requested. | |||||
When `MaxGas > -1`, Tendermint enforces the following rules: | |||||
- `GasWanted <= MaxGas` for all txs in the mempool | |||||
- `(sum of GasWanted in a block) <= MaxGas` when proposing a block | |||||
If `MaxGas == -1`, no rules about gas are enforced. | |||||
Note that Tendermint does not currently enforce anything about Gas in the consensus, only the mempool. | |||||
This means it does not guarantee that committed blocks satisfy these rules! | |||||
It is the application's responsibility to return non-zero response codes when gas limits are exceeded. | |||||
The `GasUsed` field is ignored completely by Tendermint. That said, applications should enforce: | |||||
- `GasUsed <= GasWanted` for any given transaction | |||||
- `(sum of GasUsed in a block) <= MaxGas` for every block | |||||
In the future, we intend to add a `Priority` field to the responses that can be | |||||
used to explicitly prioritize txs in the mempool for inclusion in a block | |||||
proposal. See [#1861](https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/issues/1861). | |||||
### CheckTx | |||||
If `Code != 0`, it will be rejected from the mempool and hence | |||||
not broadcasted to other peers and not included in a proposal block. | |||||
`Data` contains the result of the CheckTx transaction execution, if any. It is | |||||
semantically meaningless to Tendermint. | |||||
`Tags` include any tags for the execution, though since the transaction has not | |||||
been committed yet, they are effectively ignored by Tendermint. | |||||
### DeliverTx | |||||
If DeliverTx returns `Code != 0`, the transaction will be considered invalid, | |||||
though it is still included in the block. | |||||
`Data` contains the result of the CheckTx transaction execution, if any. It is | |||||
semantically meaningless to Tendermint. | |||||
Both the `Code` and `Data` are included in a structure that is hashed into the | |||||
`LastResultsHash` of the next block header. | |||||
`Tags` include any tags for the execution, which Tendermint will use to index | |||||
the transaction by. This allows transactions to be queried according to what | |||||
events took place during their execution. | |||||
See issue [#1007](https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/issues/1007) for how | |||||
the tags will be hashed into the next block header. | |||||
## Validator Updates | |||||
The application may set the validator set during InitChain, and update it during | |||||
EndBlock. | |||||
Note that the maximum total power of the validator set is bounded by | |||||
`MaxTotalVotingPower = MaxInt64 / 8`. Applications are responsible for ensuring | |||||
they do not make changes to the validator set that cause it to exceed this | |||||
limit. | |||||
Additionally, applications must ensure that a single set of updates does not contain any duplicates - | |||||
a given public key can only appear in an update once. If an update includes | |||||
duplicates, the block execution will fail irrecoverably. | |||||
### InitChain | |||||
ResponseInitChain can return a list of validators. | |||||
If the list is empty, Tendermint will use the validators loaded in the genesis | |||||
file. | |||||
If the list is not empty, Tendermint will use it for the validator set. | |||||
This way the application can determine the initial validator set for the | |||||
blockchain. | |||||
### EndBlock | |||||
Updates to the Tendermint validator set can be made by returning | |||||
`ValidatorUpdate` objects in the `ResponseEndBlock`: | |||||
``` | |||||
message ValidatorUpdate { | |||||
PubKey pub_key | |||||
int64 power | |||||
} | |||||
message PubKey { | |||||
string type | |||||
bytes data | |||||
} | |||||
``` | |||||
The `pub_key` currently supports only one type: | |||||
- `type = "ed25519"` and `data = <raw 32-byte public key>` | |||||
The `power` is the new voting power for the validator, with the | |||||
following rules: | |||||
- power must be non-negative | |||||
- if power is 0, the validator must already exist, and will be removed from the | |||||
validator set | |||||
- if power is non-0: | |||||
- if the validator does not already exist, it will be added to the validator | |||||
set with the given power | |||||
- if the validator does already exist, its power will be adjusted to the given power | |||||
- the total power of the new validator set must not exceed MaxTotalVotingPower | |||||
Note the updates returned in block `H` will only take effect at block `H+2`. | |||||
## Consensus Parameters | |||||
ConsensusParams enforce certain limits in the blockchain, like the maximum size | |||||
of blocks, amount of gas used in a block, and the maximum acceptable age of | |||||
evidence. They can be set in InitChain and updated in EndBlock. | |||||
### Block.MaxBytes | |||||
The maximum size of a complete Amino encoded block. | |||||
This is enforced by Tendermint consensus. | |||||
This implies a maximum tx size that is this MaxBytes, less the expected size of | |||||
the header, the validator set, and any included evidence in the block. | |||||
Must have `0 < MaxBytes < 100 MB`. | |||||
### Block.MaxGas | |||||
The maximum of the sum of `GasWanted` in a proposed block. | |||||
This is *not* enforced by Tendermint consensus. | |||||
It is left to the app to enforce (ie. if txs are included past the | |||||
limit, they should return non-zero codes). It is used by Tendermint to limit the | |||||
txs included in a proposed block. | |||||
Must have `MaxGas >= -1`. | |||||
If `MaxGas == -1`, no limit is enforced. | |||||
### Block.TimeIotaMs | |||||
The minimum time between consecutive blocks (in milliseconds). | |||||
This is enforced by Tendermint consensus. | |||||
Must have `TimeIotaMs > 0` to ensure time monotonicity. | |||||
### EvidenceParams.MaxAge | |||||
This is the maximum age of evidence. | |||||
This is enforced by Tendermint consensus. | |||||
If a block includes evidence older than this, the block will be rejected | |||||
(validators won't vote for it). | |||||
Must have `MaxAge > 0`. | |||||
### Updates | |||||
The application may set the ConsensusParams during InitChain, and update them during | |||||
EndBlock. If the ConsensusParams is empty, it will be ignored. Each field | |||||
that is not empty will be applied in full. For instance, if updating the | |||||
Block.MaxBytes, applications must also set the other Block fields (like | |||||
Block.MaxGas), even if they are unchanged, as they will otherwise cause the | |||||
value to be updated to 0. | |||||
#### InitChain | |||||
ResponseInitChain includes a ConsensusParams. | |||||
If its nil, Tendermint will use the params loaded in the genesis | |||||
file. If it's not nil, Tendermint will use it. | |||||
This way the application can determine the initial consensus params for the | |||||
blockchain. | |||||
#### EndBlock | |||||
ResponseEndBlock includes a ConsensusParams. | |||||
If its nil, Tendermint will do nothing. | |||||
If it's not nil, Tendermint will use it. | |||||
This way the application can update the consensus params over time. | |||||
Note the updates returned in block `H` will take effect right away for block | |||||
`H+1`. | |||||
## Query | |||||
Query is a generic method with lots of flexibility to enable diverse sets | |||||
of queries on application state. Tendermint makes use of Query to filter new peers | |||||
based on ID and IP, and exposes Query to the user over RPC. | |||||
Note that calls to Query are not replicated across nodes, but rather query the | |||||
local node's state - hence they may return stale reads. For reads that require | |||||
consensus, use a transaction. | |||||
The most important use of Query is to return Merkle proofs of the application state at some height | |||||
that can be used for efficient application-specific lite-clients. | |||||
Note Tendermint has technically no requirements from the Query | |||||
message for normal operation - that is, the ABCI app developer need not implement | |||||
Query functionality if they do not wish too. | |||||
### Query Proofs | |||||
The Tendermint block header includes a number of hashes, each providing an | |||||
anchor for some type of proof about the blockchain. The `ValidatorsHash` enables | |||||
quick verification of the validator set, the `DataHash` gives quick | |||||
verification of the transactions included in the block, etc. | |||||
The `AppHash` is unique in that it is application specific, and allows for | |||||
application-specific Merkle proofs about the state of the application. | |||||
While some applications keep all relevant state in the transactions themselves | |||||
(like Bitcoin and its UTXOs), others maintain a separated state that is | |||||
computed deterministically *from* transactions, but is not contained directly in | |||||
the transactions themselves (like Ethereum contracts and accounts). | |||||
For such applications, the `AppHash` provides a much more efficient way to verify lite-client proofs. | |||||
ABCI applications can take advantage of more efficient lite-client proofs for | |||||
their state as follows: | |||||
- return the Merkle root of the deterministic application state in | |||||
`ResponseCommit.Data`. | |||||
- it will be included as the `AppHash` in the next block. | |||||
- return efficient Merkle proofs about that application state in `ResponseQuery.Proof` | |||||
that can be verified using the `AppHash` of the corresponding block. | |||||
For instance, this allows an application's lite-client to verify proofs of | |||||
absence in the application state, something which is much less efficient to do using the block hash. | |||||
Some applications (eg. Ethereum, Cosmos-SDK) have multiple "levels" of Merkle trees, | |||||
where the leaves of one tree are the root hashes of others. To support this, and | |||||
the general variability in Merkle proofs, the `ResponseQuery.Proof` has some minimal structure: | |||||
``` | |||||
message Proof { | |||||
repeated ProofOp ops | |||||
} | |||||
message ProofOp { | |||||
string type = 1; | |||||
bytes key = 2; | |||||
bytes data = 3; | |||||
} | |||||
``` | |||||
Each `ProofOp` contains a proof for a single key in a single Merkle tree, of the specified `type`. | |||||
This allows ABCI to support many different kinds of Merkle trees, encoding | |||||
formats, and proofs (eg. of presence and absence) just by varying the `type`. | |||||
The `data` contains the actual encoded proof, encoded according to the `type`. | |||||
When verifying the full proof, the root hash for one ProofOp is the value being | |||||
verified for the next ProofOp in the list. The root hash of the final ProofOp in | |||||
the list should match the `AppHash` being verified against. | |||||
### Peer Filtering | |||||
When Tendermint connects to a peer, it sends two queries to the ABCI application | |||||
using the following paths, with no additional data: | |||||
- `/p2p/filter/addr/<IP:PORT>`, where `<IP:PORT>` denote the IP address and | |||||
the port of the connection | |||||
- `p2p/filter/id/<ID>`, where `<ID>` is the peer node ID (ie. the | |||||
pubkey.Address() for the peer's PubKey) | |||||
If either of these queries return a non-zero ABCI code, Tendermint will refuse | |||||
to connect to the peer. | |||||
### Paths | |||||
Queries are directed at paths, and may optionally include additional data. | |||||
The expectation is for there to be some number of high level paths | |||||
differentiating concerns, like `/p2p`, `/store`, and `/app`. Currently, | |||||
Tendermint only uses `/p2p`, for filtering peers. For more advanced use, see the | |||||
implementation of | |||||
[Query in the Cosmos-SDK](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/blob/v0.23.1/baseapp/baseapp.go#L333). | |||||
## Crash Recovery | |||||
On startup, Tendermint calls the `Info` method on the Info Connection to get the latest | |||||
committed state of the app. The app MUST return information consistent with the | |||||
last block it succesfully completed Commit for. | |||||
If the app succesfully committed block H but not H+1, then `last_block_height = H` and `last_block_app_hash = <hash returned by Commit for block H>`. If the app | |||||
failed during the Commit of block H, then `last_block_height = H-1` and | |||||
`last_block_app_hash = <hash returned by Commit for block H-1, which is the hash in the header of block H>`. | |||||
We now distinguish three heights, and describe how Tendermint syncs itself with | |||||
the app. | |||||
``` | |||||
storeBlockHeight = height of the last block Tendermint saw a commit for | |||||
stateBlockHeight = height of the last block for which Tendermint completed all | |||||
block processing and saved all ABCI results to disk | |||||
appBlockHeight = height of the last block for which ABCI app succesfully | |||||
completed Commit | |||||
``` | |||||
Note we always have `storeBlockHeight >= stateBlockHeight` and `storeBlockHeight >= appBlockHeight` | |||||
Note also we never call Commit on an ABCI app twice for the same height. | |||||
The procedure is as follows. | |||||
First, some simple start conditions: | |||||
If `appBlockHeight == 0`, then call InitChain. | |||||
If `storeBlockHeight == 0`, we're done. | |||||
Now, some sanity checks: | |||||
If `storeBlockHeight < appBlockHeight`, error | |||||
If `storeBlockHeight < stateBlockHeight`, panic | |||||
If `storeBlockHeight > stateBlockHeight+1`, panic | |||||
Now, the meat: | |||||
If `storeBlockHeight == stateBlockHeight && appBlockHeight < storeBlockHeight`, | |||||
replay all blocks in full from `appBlockHeight` to `storeBlockHeight`. | |||||
This happens if we completed processing the block, but the app forgot its height. | |||||
If `storeBlockHeight == stateBlockHeight && appBlockHeight == storeBlockHeight`, we're done. | |||||
This happens if we crashed at an opportune spot. | |||||
If `storeBlockHeight == stateBlockHeight+1` | |||||
This happens if we started processing the block but didn't finish. | |||||
If `appBlockHeight < stateBlockHeight` | |||||
replay all blocks in full from `appBlockHeight` to `storeBlockHeight-1`, | |||||
and replay the block at `storeBlockHeight` using the WAL. | |||||
This happens if the app forgot the last block it committed. | |||||
If `appBlockHeight == stateBlockHeight`, | |||||
replay the last block (storeBlockHeight) in full. | |||||
This happens if we crashed before the app finished Commit | |||||
If `appBlockHeight == storeBlockHeight` | |||||
update the state using the saved ABCI responses but dont run the block against the real app. | |||||
This happens if we crashed after the app finished Commit but before Tendermint saved the state. | |||||
@ -0,0 +1,109 @@ | |||||
# Client and Server | |||||
This section is for those looking to implement their own ABCI Server, perhaps in | |||||
a new programming language. | |||||
You are expected to have read [ABCI Methods and Types](./abci.md) and [ABCI | |||||
Applications](./apps.md). | |||||
## Message Protocol | |||||
The message protocol consists of pairs of requests and responses defined in the | |||||
[protobuf file](https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/blob/master/abci/types/types.proto). | |||||
Some messages have no fields, while others may include byte-arrays, strings, integers, | |||||
or custom protobuf types. | |||||
For more details on protobuf, see the [documentation](https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/overview). | |||||
For each request, a server should respond with the corresponding | |||||
response, where the order of requests is preserved in the order of | |||||
responses. | |||||
## Server Implementations | |||||
To use ABCI in your programming language of choice, there must be a ABCI | |||||
server in that language. Tendermint supports three implementations of the ABCI, written in Go: | |||||
- In-process (Golang only) | |||||
- ABCI-socket | |||||
- GRPC | |||||
The latter two can be tested using the `abci-cli` by setting the `--abci` flag | |||||
appropriately (ie. to `socket` or `grpc`). | |||||
See examples, in various stages of maintenance, in | |||||
[Go](https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/tree/master/abci/server), | |||||
[JavaScript](https://github.com/tendermint/js-abci), | |||||
[Python](https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/tree/master/abci/example/python3/abci), | |||||
[C++](https://github.com/mdyring/cpp-tmsp), and | |||||
[Java](https://github.com/jTendermint/jabci). | |||||
### In Process | |||||
The simplest implementation uses function calls within Golang. | |||||
This means ABCI applications written in Golang can be compiled with TendermintCore and run as a single binary. | |||||
### GRPC | |||||
If GRPC is available in your language, this is the easiest approach, | |||||
though it will have significant performance overhead. | |||||
To get started with GRPC, copy in the [protobuf | |||||
file](https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/blob/master/abci/types/types.proto) | |||||
and compile it using the GRPC plugin for your language. For instance, | |||||
for golang, the command is `protoc --go_out=plugins=grpc:. types.proto`. | |||||
See the [grpc documentation for more details](http://www.grpc.io/docs/). | |||||
`protoc` will autogenerate all the necessary code for ABCI client and | |||||
server in your language, including whatever interface your application | |||||
must satisfy to be used by the ABCI server for handling requests. | |||||
Note the length-prefixing used in the socket implementation (TSP) does not apply for GRPC. | |||||
### TSP | |||||
Tendermint Socket Protocol is an asynchronous, raw socket server which provides ordered message passing over unix or tcp. | |||||
Messages are serialized using Protobuf3 and length-prefixed with a [signed Varint](https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/encoding?csw=1#signed-integers) | |||||
If GRPC is not available in your language, or you require higher | |||||
performance, or otherwise enjoy programming, you may implement your own | |||||
ABCI server using the Tendermint Socket Protocol. The first step is still to auto-generate the relevant data | |||||
types and codec in your language using `protoc`. In addition to being proto3 encoded, messages coming over | |||||
the socket are length-prefixed to facilitate use as a streaming protocol. proto3 doesn't have an | |||||
official length-prefix standard, so we use our own. The first byte in | |||||
the prefix represents the length of the Big Endian encoded length. The | |||||
remaining bytes in the prefix are the Big Endian encoded length. | |||||
For example, if the proto3 encoded ABCI message is 0xDEADBEEF (4 | |||||
bytes), the length-prefixed message is 0x0104DEADBEEF. If the proto3 | |||||
encoded ABCI message is 65535 bytes long, the length-prefixed message | |||||
would be like 0x02FFFF.... | |||||
The benefit of using this `varint` encoding over the old version (where integers were encoded as `<len of len><big endian len>` is that | |||||
it is the standard way to encode integers in Protobuf. It is also generally shorter. | |||||
As noted above, this prefixing does not apply for GRPC. | |||||
An ABCI server must also be able to support multiple connections, as | |||||
Tendermint uses three connections. | |||||
### Async vs Sync | |||||
The main ABCI server (ie. non-GRPC) provides ordered asynchronous messages. | |||||
This is useful for DeliverTx and CheckTx, since it allows Tendermint to forward | |||||
transactions to the app before it's finished processing previous ones. | |||||
Thus, DeliverTx and CheckTx messages are sent asynchronously, while all other | |||||
messages are sent synchronously. | |||||
## Client | |||||
There are currently two use-cases for an ABCI client. One is a testing | |||||
tool, as in the `abci-cli`, which allows ABCI requests to be sent via | |||||
command line. The other is a consensus engine, such as Tendermint Core, | |||||
which makes requests to the application every time a new transaction is | |||||
received or a block is committed. | |||||
It is unlikely that you will need to implement a client. For details of | |||||
our client, see | |||||
[here](https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/tree/master/abci/client). |