| Report Date | 2025/10/22 |
| Submitted by | Damilare Akinlose |
@dharjeezy/:matrix.org12GyGD3QhT4i2JJpNzvMf96sxxBLWymz4RdGCxRH5Rj5agKW12024-04-292025/07/23FRAME/Runtime & NodeI am applying for Rank I retention.
During this period, my contributions have focused on enhancing the flexibility, reliability, and efficiency of both the Polkadot SDK runtime and the underlying litep2p networking stack.
I have taken on issues that improve the developer experience, strengthen network resilience, and ensure the correctness of core pallets.
My work demonstrates a commitment to delivering high-quality, impactful solutions across multiple domains of the ecosystem.
Below is a summary of my key contributions:
To enhance the flexibility of transaction payments, I implemented a feature allowing a specified account—other than the transaction's origin—to pay for storage deposits. As detailed in PR #9543, this change removes a significant limitation and enables more complex use cases where transaction costs can be sponsored or managed by a separate entity, improving the overall developer experience. Though, this change was deeemed redundant based on the new updates to pallet revive.
I finished the implementation to expose the name of the BlockNumberProvider as a runtime constant.
Tracked in PR #9091, this feature is crucial for application developers who need to differentiate between a parachain's local block number and the Relay Chain's block number.
proxy.removeProxies: Emit Event on Clearing All DelegatesI added an event for the proxy.removeProxies extrinsic, which calls remove_all_proxy_delegates. Previously, this action lacked an event, creating an observability gap that was inconsistent with addProxy and removeProxy.
As implemented in PR #10073, an event is now emitted with the delegator's AccountId, ensuring this significant action is recorded on-chain and available for indexers.
try_state Hook for Pallet-AllianceTo bolster the integrity of pallet-alliance, I introduced a try_state hook to verify key storage invariants. This proactive measure, implemented in PR #10000, helps ensure the pallet's state remains consistent and correct during runtime upgrades or state transitions,
preventing potential bugs.
litep2p: Implement Periodic Ping for Connection LivenessI continued with the challenging implementation to add periodic pings in litep2p, ensuring reliable detection of broken connections. The core difficulty, as discussed in PR #416, was adhering to the libp2p specification of using a single, long-lived substream without artificially keeping the connection alive.
My solution involved introducing a stateful peer management system, and a commitment to spec-compliant solution.
litep2p: Optimize Propagation of Dial Failure MessagesI improved the efficiency of the TransportManager by refining how DialFailure events are propagated. In PR #443, I modified the logic to send detailed address failure information only to the Kademlia protocol handler, which requires it for its address store. Other protocols now receive a more lightweight event, reducing unnecessary data propagation and improving the performance of the transport layer.
litep2p: Optimize WebRTC Decoding BufferI optimized the WebRTC transport by making the decoding buffer size configurable. This change, part of PR #442, allows node operators to set a sensible default while providing the flexibility to adjust it for different environments. This prevents over-allocation of memory and improves decoding efficiency.
| Ranks | Activity thresholds | Agreement thresholds | Member's voting activities | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 90% | N/A | I have voted on 0 out of 0 referenda in which I was eligible to vote (i.e undefined% voting activity). Out of xx referenda in which members of higher ranks were in complete agreement, I have voted in line with the consensus x times (i.e undefined% voting agreement). | |
| II | 80% | N/A | ||
| III | 70% | 100% | ||
| IV | 60% | 90% | ||
| V | 50% | 80% | ||
| VI | 40% | 70% |