Designing a WebAssembly Runtime for Blockchains

Transcript

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   Designing a WebAssembly runtime for Blockchains

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   syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Hi

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   syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio How to execute WebAssembly?

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   syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio How to execute WebAssembly? • In your

   Browser, using JavaScript
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   syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio What about executing WebAssembly outside the browser?

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   syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio How to execute
 WebAssembly
 outside of the

   Browser? • Interpreter • Compile Ahead of Time / Just in Time (AOT / JIT)
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   syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Performance ⏱

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   syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio How to execute
 WebAssembly performantly
 outside of

   the Browser? • Interpreter • Compile Ahead of Time / Just in Time (AOT / JIT)
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   syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Easy

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio WebAssembly instructions are easy to map to

    underlying chipset instructions
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio How?

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio • Cranelift
 Internal project of Mozilla to

    eventually replace their IonMonkey JS implementation • Singlepass
 Compiler focused on compilation speed and fast runtime • LLVM
 Compiler focused on optimizations
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Compilation speed Runtime speed Singlepass Fast (1x)

    Efficient (2~3x) Cranelift Slow (10x) A bit faster (1.8x) LLVM Very slow (20x~50x) Almost Native (1~1.2x) Expected to have better optimizations over time
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Speed, Speed, Speed

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio We are obsessed about speed

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Having a fast WebAssembly runtime is critical

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Problem: There are programs that take longer

    to compile than they do to execute
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio JIT Bombs

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Compiling php.wasm takes
 1:15s with Cranelift

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Singlepass ⏩

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Singlepass is a backend for the WebAssembly

    runtime focused on compilation speed. It emits machine code as the module is being parsed
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Linear O(N) compilation time

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Compiling php.wasm takes
 300ms with Singlepass

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio How to use it?

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio It’s just one line of code ✍

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio speed.wasmer.io

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Availability of Wasmer WebAssembly Runtime

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Wasmer is written in Rust

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio But… you can have clients in any

    language
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio But we have embeddings for almost any

    other language • Go: Perlin, Cosmos, Ethereum • Rust: Polkadot, EVM • Python • …and many more!
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Metering ⛽

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Metering consists on measuring the cost of

    running certain instructions while being able to halt the execution if the costs is greater than expected
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio This is of vital importance for Blockchain

    platforms
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Costs should remain deterministic regardless of the

    backend
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio How metering is done today • Transforms

    the WebAssembly module, injecting the calls to the gas meter
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio This is the best strategy if you

    can’t access the VM directly (e.g. browser environments)
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio But… can be improved?

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio YES

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Our solution: Metering through Middleware

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Middleware let us customize the parsing in

    a backend- agnostic way, at parsing time
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio How? • The metering code is generated

    at parsing time through Middleware • Gas functions are inlined into the function body. No extra calls are required
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Metering in Numbers 0us 1.75us 3.5us 5.25us

    7us Not metered Middleware WASM Transforms Baseline Time spent on metering
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Let’s take a closer look • Metering

    8x faster than with code generated with WASM transforms (460us vs 3,680us) • 2x faster in overall runtime speed • No WASM transforms overhead
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio What else can we improve?

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Contracts

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio A contract is a set of imports

    and exports that must be fulfilled in the module
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio WASI is a contract

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Emscripten is a contract

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Ewasm is a contract

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Show me the code

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio We can pin a specific version of

    a contract to the WebAssembly module
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Shipping soon

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio WebAssembly modules can be analyzed against a

    static spec before running
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Is WASI the ABI we want to

    use for smart contracts?
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio OasisLabs: YES https://medium.com/oasislabs/blockchain-flavored-wasi-50e3612b8eba

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio How? • Using the filesystem to get

    the contract input and • Use Commands to call a contract • Use environment vars to get the amount of tokens transferred to the contract (VALUE) • Use environment args to get the blockchain address
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Or perhaps we can use a specific

    ABI for it?
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Ewasm

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio WASI vs Ewasm • Oasis WASI proposal

    uses the WASI ABI to interact with the environment • It would seem like WASI would help on running other modules that already run on WASI • eWASM have a explicit API
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Packaging

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio SPAM Alert:
 wapm.io

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio We need decentralized packages

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio IPFS integration in wapm coming soon

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio …what about tampering?

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Package signing

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Package Signing is like the modern version

    of using sealing wax with a difficult to replicate imprint to verify the authenticity and integrity of the letter.
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Package Signing let us trust that the

    package we are using proceed from the owner
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio But wait, there is more! • Preparing

    support for AArch64 (ARM) coming in the next months • More languages! • Tiering!
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Why use Wasmer? • Vendor Neutral. No

    hidden interests. Our business is on creating the best WebAssembly runtime • Trusted and used already by blockchain companies • Rapid iteration process to bring the best runtime EVER
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Recap • Fastest and modular WebAssembly runtime

    • Available in most popular languages (Rust, Go, Python…) • Adapted to work fast for blockchain use cases • Continuously improving
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Our business is solely focused on creating

    the fastest WebAssembly runtime
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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Q & A 1

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    syrus@wasmer.io @wasmerio github.com/wasmerio Technical Demo https://github.com/wasmerio/ewasm-workshop