#76 Replace Auctioneer and Upgrade Vaults

This proposal contains several Inter Protocol contract-level changes including deploying a new auctioneer contract and upgrading the VaultFactory contract. It also addresses some high-value bug fixes.

Agoric OpCo Engineering is pleased to announce:

Release agoric-upgrade-16av-rc2 · Agoric/agoric-sdk - b84a42624

We invite the community to consider deploying the contract upgrade by way of a core eval proposal.

Background

This update fixes a bug that stops that auctioneer, and normally unrelated bugs that were exacerbating the original but, for example, preventing the auctioneer from being restarted.

The auctioneer gets deployed along with the VaultManager. The auctioneer was designed to be upgraded by being replaced as part of a VaultManager upgrade. Thus, this upgrade includes a big additional chunk: completion of support for upgrades (via governance) for the Vault contracts, including replacing the auctioneer with bug fixes and improved error handling.

This will substantially simplify Vault system improvements in the future. The specific bugs that have impacted auctions are:

  1. Make the auction schedule robust when adding collateral types #8301 | When governed parameters are reset, re-calculate the schedule if there’s no next auction scheduled, or if the “next” auction has already passed + Enable the Economic Committee to restart the auction scheduler through a governed auction parameter change.

  2. auction scheduler robustness #9759 | When an auction settles, calculate the distribution of proceeds more robustly and transparently.

  3. catch all exceptions in auction wakers #8438 | Auctions are more robust to errors that arise while handling timer wakeups.

  4. Inter Protocol vaults should allow adjustments that don’t increase debt when mint limit <= debt outstanding #9837

This core eval also addresses two Inter Protocol bugs:

  1. Allowing vault adjustments that don’t increase debt when mint limit <= debt outstanding.
  2. Enabling the EC to restart the auction scheduler through a governed auction parameter change.

NOTE: because the auction contract is replaced, bids in the prior auction will not participate. Participants will need to remove their bids in the old contract

Agoric will upload the new contract bundles which can be verified as described in the agoric-upgrade-16av-rc2 release notes

Recommended Testnet Milestones

To guarantee that any new software release is ready for production, comprehensive testing is essential. Utilizing long-running testnets to evaluate software before its promotion to mainnet is vital for preserving a stable and resilient network. Agoric core developers advise the community to review the following milestones before initiating an on-chain governance proposal on the agoric-3 mainnet.

  1. Mainfork clone testing by Agoric. Agoric deploys core eval to Ollinet which is the current mainfork clone chain to complete initial testing of core eval.

  2. Upon success, Agoric supports DCF - the testnet coordinator, in kicking off the Emerynet upgrade by making an on-chain core eval proposal via the https://cosgov.org/ proposal builder. (Note: Emerynet currently has a 2hr voting period)

  • The bundles will be installed on chain by Agoric OpCo
  1. Validators monitor the performance of the chain after the proposal passes.

  2. Test existing Inter Protocol functionality and validate fixes

  3. Keep the community updated on testnet progress by posting updates to this thread or sharing details about this release in Discord or Twitter so that the entire community can follow progress towards launch.

  4. DCF creates a mainnet proposal; if needed, seek support from the community for the deposit.

3 Likes

After a successful testing period, the DCF proposed the contract replacement + upgrade to mainnet on Sunday 1st September at ~12:45pm Pacific.
This proposal is now in voting period and currently has quorum. It will deploy tomorrow Wednesday 4th September at the same time.

After the passing of proposal 76 the contract upgrade took place and was a success!