Etherlink 7.0 (Ganesha): resubmission via Fast governance on Wednesday, August 19th

Research and Development
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This is a joint post from Nomadic Labs, TriliTech, and Functori.

Hi everyone,

Earlier this month, we asked bakers not to support the Etherlink 7.0 proposal — which had already been through a full Slow governance cycle and had bakers’ support — after identifying a security issue in that kernel (Important update on Etherlink 7.0 (Ganesha)). That kernel was never activated, so Etherlink Mainnet was never exposed to it.

On Wednesday, August 19th, we will submit the corrected kernel through Etherlink’s Fast governance mechanism. We’re posting now, ahead of time, so bakers have as much notice as possible to stay connected and ready to vote, since fast governance voting windows are short.

The new kernel carries the same name and the same core features as the proposal already supported by bakers, described in the original announcement. It also includes security hardening updates. The kernel currently deployed on Previewnet (0.9) gives an idea of what the proposal will include — its changelog is available here: https://previewnet.tezosx.nomadic-labs.com/.

Fast governance periods last ~8 hours, so both votes fall on the same day:

  • Proposal period vote: fast governance period 609, spanning between L1 level #14,563,489 (Wednesday, August 19, 02:25 CEST) and #14,568,288 (Wednesday, August 19, 10:25 CEST).
  • Promotion period vote: fast governance period 610, spanning between L1 level #14,568,289 and #14,573,088 (Wednesday, August 19, 18:25 CEST).

The Proposal period is the tight one: it opens in the early hours of Wednesday morning and closes at ~10:25 CEST. Fast governance also requires a 5% quorum on the proposal itself to move to Promotion, where slow governance only requires 1%. If you can cast your upvote first thing on Wednesday morning, it will make a real difference. The Promotion period then leaves most of the working day, and requires a 15% quorum and an 80% “yea” supermajority.

We will share more information next week, including the kernel root hash, ahead of the submission.

See Etherlink governance docs for further instructions on how to participate in Etherlink’s governance.

:folded_hands: Thank you for your continued support of Etherlink.

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I am once again asking what the exit window timeline is. as someone who is concerned about exactly this kind of governance abuse

could this upgrade steal user funds? yes or no

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What’s the big rush that causes this crossing of lanes?

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We were never told here what the security issue was in the first place - and now things getting rushed?

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Please indicate why this is happening as this will go into the consideration of how to vote on this proposal.

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Hello @Primate411 and @JASP,
The first Ganesha proposal was withdrawn after we identified a security vulnerability, as announced at the time.
The vulnerability has since been fixed, and Ganesha can be resubmitted with the same core features as the original proposal. The proposal also includes additional security improvements developed while working on the fix.
Since bakers already reviewed and supported the core proposal through a full Slow governance cycle, we’re resubmitting via Fast governance rather than repeating that full cycle.
We will share more information ahead of the vote.

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Thanks for taking the time to answer us @VincentPoulain :people_hugging: :elephant:

That explains why Fast governance is available, but not why it is appropriate here. This is not the same artifact bakers previously approved: it includes a security fix and additional hardening, while the vulnerability and final kernel remain undisclosed.

Prior approval of the feature set is not approval of changed code. What is the actual urgency that makes another Slow cycle unacceptable?