Ganache-cli: Bounty: An automated reproduction for issue #417

[benjamincburns]

In issue #417 we see at least two distinct types of crashes: TypeError: Cannot read property 'pop' of undefined and TypeError: Cannot read property 'get' of undefined (see issue for full traces). We believe that this issue is the most common cause of crashes Ganache and ganache-cli.

We believe that these crashes share an underlying root cause, and while we have some idea of where this is happening, we don't yet have a reliable reproduction which demonstrates how ganache-core is causing this problem to occur.

Bounty acceptance criteria:

1. Submission must be in the form of a pull request containing one or more automated tests
2. Tests must fail reliably with deterministic results
3. Tests must exercise ganache-core to demonstrate the specific process by which ganache-core triggers these bugs in the merkle-patricia-tree module, or whichever module is ultimately responsible for the behavior observed.
4. Test must demonstrate the root cause of both crashes described in the description of issue #417 and mentioned above.
5. Submissions may make reasonable modifications to ganache-core to improve its testability for the purpose of this task, provided that they are logically equivalent to the unmodified code and that they do not impact normal runtime performance

Note that while the intention is for us to merge the submitter's PR so that the tests therein can guard against the future regression of this issue, in certain cases we may elect not to do so. If this happens, provided the above criteria are still met, the bounty will still be awarded.

Bounty details, including award amount, will be available via GitCoin once the issue is funded.

Notes/Notices:
There is some discussion on this bounty on this /r/ethdev post

From what I can tell, this bug is not specific to a particular version of node. If you think you've found a reproduction in one version of node, but it doesn't reproduce in another, you probably aren't triggering the right bug. However if that happens, please tell us about it!

[gitcoinbot]

__This issue now has a funding of 0.5 ETH (398.45 USD) attached to it.__

• If you would like to work on this issue you can claim it here.
• If you've completed this issue and want to claim the bounty you can do so here
• Questions? Get help on the Gitcoin Slack
• $12156.01 more Funded OSS Work Available at: https://gitcoin.co/explorer

[gitcoinbot]

__The funding of 0.5 ETH (393.11 USD) attached has been claimed by @avdaredevil.__

@avdaredevil, please leave a comment to let the funder (@owocki) and the other parties involved your implementation plan. If you don't leave a comment, the funder may expire your claim at their discretion.

• Learn more on the gitcoin issue page
• Questions? Get help on the Gitcoin Slack
• $12198.03 more Funded OSS Work Available at: https://gitcoin.co/explorer

[owocki]

@avdaredevil i see that you've claimed the issue but dont see any comments from you. do you have a reproduction of the issue ready? what is your plan? let us know.

i hope you understand that, out of respect to the other community members, we can't keep your claim active for a long time unless it's clear that this is a top priority for you and you're going to solve it soon.

best,
kevin

[0xNPE]

@owocki I would like to claim this bounty. I have tests that fail deterministically and will put up a PR shortly.

edit: https://github.com/trufflesuite/ganache-core/pull/41

[benjamincburns]

I haven't had the chance to actually run these tests yet, but on first glance they certainly look like they quality for the bounty -- great work, @0xNPE! I'll pull & run the tests first thing tomorrow morning and report back.

In the mean time, given that it's Christmas, I expect it might be a couple of days until @owocki is able to get things sorted for you.

[0xNPE]

No problem, and no rush. Merry Christmas to the both of you!

[owocki]

@avdaredevil no showed, so i'm rejecting his claim. @0xNPE feel free to claim at https://gitcoin.co/funding/details?url=https://github.com/trufflesuite/ganache-cli/issues/450

[benjamincburns]

I've merged your PR, @0xNPE -- thanks so much for this! @owocki is going to clear out the invalid claim now so that you can go ahead and register your claim to receive the bounty. I expect he'll pay it out quickly once you're able to register your claim.

[benjamincburns]

Also @0xNPE if you want to continue on with your work on this, the next bounty on this will be to fix the underlying problem. I'm writing that bounty up now - should be good to go in 15-30 mins.

[gitcoinbot]

__The funding of 0.5 ETH (355.99 USD) attached has been claimed by @0xNPE.__

@0xNPE, please leave a comment to let the funder (@owocki) and the other parties involved your implementation plan. If you don't leave a comment, the funder may expire your claim at their discretion.

• Learn more on the gitcoin issue page
• Questions? Get help on the Gitcoin Slack
• $11291.96 more Funded OSS Work Available at: https://gitcoin.co/explorer

[0xNPE]

Thanks guys, I've placed a claim on gitcoin. I'd love to work on the fix for this issue too, but I have some higher priority things to finish first. If no one has taken a stab at it in a week or so, I'll give it a go.

[owocki]

just posted a bounty for https://github.com/trufflesuite/ganache-cli/issues/453

[gitcoinbot]

__The funding of 0.5 ETH (374.81 USD) attached to this issue has been approved & issued to @0xNPE.__

• Learn more at on the gitcoin issue page
• Questions? Get help on the Gitcoin Slack
• $12076.27 more Funded OSS Work Available at: https://gitcoin.co/explorer

[owocki]

hey @0xNPE im giving out some schwag to the top gitcoin contrigbutors for the last month. are you on slack? gitcoin.co/slack - i want to send you the link so i know what t shirt size you are.. email me at [email protected] or DM me on slack