Upgrading Wasm Bytecode for a Deployed Contract

Introduction

Upgrading a smart contract allows you to improve or modify your contract without changing its address. This guide will walk you through the process of upgrading a WebAssembly (Wasm) bytecode contract using the Soroban SDK.

Prerequisites:

• Basic understanding of Rust programming language. To brush up on Rust, check out Rustlings or The Rust book.
• Familiarity with Stellar smart contracts
• Installed Stellar CLI and Soroban SDK

Download the upgradeable contract example

The upgradeable contract example demonstrates how to upgrade a Wasm contract.

Code

The example contains both an "old" and "new" contract, where we upgrade from "old" to "new". The code below is for the "old" contract.

upgradeable_contract/old_contract/src/lib.rs

#![no_std]

use soroban_sdk::{contractimpl, contracttype, Address, BytesN, Env};

#[contracttype]
#[derive(Clone)]
enum DataKey {
    Admin,
}

#[contract]
pub struct UpgradeableContract;

#[contractimpl]
impl UpgradeableContract {
    pub fn init(e: Env, admin: Address) {
        e.storage().instance().set(&DataKey::Admin, &admin);
    }

    pub fn version() -> u32 {
        1
    }

    pub fn upgrade(e: Env, new_wasm_hash: BytesN<32>) {
        let admin: Address = e.storage().instance().get(&DataKey::Admin).unwrap();
        admin.require_auth();

        e.deployer().update_current_contract_wasm(new_wasm_hash);
    }
}

How it works

When upgrading a contract, the key function used is e.deployer().update_current_contract_wasm, which takes the Wasm hash of the new contract as a parameter. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how this process works:

1. No change in contract ID: The contract's ID remains the same even after the upgrade. This ensures that all references to the contract stay intact.
2. Admin authorization: Before upgrading, the contract checks if the action is authorized by an admin. This is crucial to prevent unauthorized upgrades. Only someone with admin rights can perform the upgrade.
3. The upgrade function: Below is the function that handles the upgrade process:

pub fn upgrade(e: Env, new_wasm_hash: BytesN<32>) {
    let admin: Address = e.storage().instance().get(&DataKey::Admin).unwrap();
    admin.require_auth();

    e.deployer().update_current_contract_wasm(new_wasm_hash);
}

• e: Env: The environment object representing the current state of the blockchain.
• new_wasm_hash: BytesN<32>: The hash of the new Wasm code for the contract. The Wasm bytecode must already be installed/present on the ledger.
• The function first retrieves the admin's address from the contract's storage.
• It then requires the admin's authorization (admin.require_auth()) to proceed.
• Finally, it updates the contract with the new Wasm code (e.deployer().update_current_contract_wasm(new_wasm_hash)).

4. The update_current_contract_wasm host function will also emit a SYSTEM contract event that contains the old and new wasm reference, allowing downstream users to be notified when a contract they use is updated. The event structure will have topics = ["executable_update", old_executable: ContractExecutable, old_executable: ContractExecutable] and data = [].

Tests

Open the upgradeable_contract/old_contract/src/test.rs file to follow along.

upgradeable_contract/old_contract/srctest.rs

#![cfg(test)]

use soroban_sdk::{testutils::Address as _, Address, BytesN, Env};

mod old_contract {
    soroban_sdk::contractimport!(
        file =
            "target/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/soroban_upgradeable_contract_old_contract.wasm"
    );
}

mod new_contract {
    soroban_sdk::contractimport!(
        file = "../new_contract/target/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/soroban_upgradeable_contract_new_contract.wasm"
    );
}

fn install_new_wasm(e: &Env) -> BytesN<32> {
    e.install_contract_wasm(new_contract::Wasm)
}

#[test]
fn test() {
    let env = Env::default();
    env.mock_all_auths();

    // Note that we use register_contract_wasm instead of register_contract
    // because the old contracts Wasm is expected to exist in storage.
    let contract_id = env.register_contract_wasm(None, old_contract::Wasm);

    let client = old_contract::Client::new(&env, &contract_id);
    let admin = Address::random(&env);
    client.init(&admin);

    assert_eq!(1, client.version());

    let new_wasm_hash = install_new_wasm(&env);

    client.upgrade(&new_wasm_hash);
    assert_eq!(2, client.version());

    // new_v2_fn was added in the new contract, so the existing
    // client is out of date. Generate a new one.
    let client = new_contract::Client::new(&env, &contract_id);
    assert_eq!(1010101, client.new_v2_fn());
}

We first import Wasm files for both contracts:

mod old_contract {
    soroban_sdk::contractimport!(
        file =
            "target/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/soroban_upgradeable_contract_old_contract.wasm"
    );
}

mod new_contract {
    soroban_sdk::contractimport!(
        file = "../new_contract/target/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/soroban_upgradeable_contract_new_contract.wasm"
    );
}

We register the old contract, intialize it with an admin, and verify the version it returns. The note in the code below is important:

// Note that we use register_contract_wasm instead of register_contract
// because the old contracts Wasm is expected to exist in storage.
let contract_id = env.register_contract_wasm(None, old_contract::Wasm);

let client = old_contract::Client::new(&env, &contract_id);
let admin = Address::random(&env);
client.init(&admin);

assert_eq!(1, client.version());

We install the new contract's Wasm:

let new_wasm_hash = install_new_wasm(&env);

Then we run the upgrade, and verify that the upgrade worked:

client.upgrade(&new_wasm_hash);
assert_eq!(2, client.version());

Build the contract

To build the contract .wasm files, run stellar contract build in both upgradeable_contract/old_contract and upgradeable_contract/new_contract in that order.

Both .wasm files should be found in both contract target directories after building both contracts:

target/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/soroban_upgradeable_contract_old_contract.wasm

target/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/soroban_upgradeable_contract_new_contract.wasm

Run the contract

If you have stellar-cli installed, you can invoke contract functions. Deploy the old contract and install the Wasm for the new contract.

Navigate to to upgradeable_contract/old_contract

stellar contract deploy \
  --wasm target/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/soroban_upgradeable_contract_old_contract.wasm \
  --source alice  \
  --network testnet

• When you deploy a smart contract to a network, you need to specify an identity that will be used to sign the transactions. Change the alice to your own identity.

You should see this similar contract ID after you have ran the deploy command:

CAS6FKBXGVXFGU2SPPPJJOIULJNPMPR6NVKWLOQP24SZJPMB76TGH7Y3

Navigate to upgradeable_contract/new_contract and run the following command:

stellar contract install \
--source-account alice \
--wasm target/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/soroban_upgradeable_contract_new_contract.wasm \
--network testnet

You should see this Wasm hash from the install command:

aa24c81289997ad815489b29db337b53f284cca5aba86e9a8ae5cef7d31842c2

You also need to call the init method so the admin address is set. This requires us to setup some identities.

Given that we have previously setup an identity, to get the identity address, we run the following command:

stellar keys address alice

Example output:

GCJ2R5ST4UQP2D4F54Y3IIAQKPMLMEEZCNZ3PEDKY4AGDYEMYUC2MOO7

Navigate to upgradeable_contract/old_contract and now call init with this key (make sure to substitute with the key you generated):

stellar contract invoke \
  --id CAS6FKBXGVXFGU2SPPPJJOIULJNPMPR6NVKWLOQP24SZJPMB76TGH7Y3 \
  --source alice \
  --network testnet \
  -- \
  init \
  --admin GCJ2R5ST4UQP2D4F54Y3IIAQKPMLMEEZCNZ3PEDKY4AGDYEMYUC2MOO7

Our deployed old_contract address is CAS6FKBXGVXFGU2SPPPJJOIULJNPMPR6NVKWLOQP24SZJPMB76TGH7Y3. You may need to replace this value with your own. Invoke the version function of the contract:

stellar contract invoke \
  --id CAS6FKBXGVXFGU2SPPPJJOIULJNPMPR6NVKWLOQP24SZJPMB76TGH7Y3 \
  --source alice \
  --network testnet \
  -- \
  version

The following output should occur using the code above:

1

Now upgrade the contract. Notice the --source must be the identity name matching the address passed to the init function.

stellar contract invoke \
  --id CAS6FKBXGVXFGU2SPPPJJOIULJNPMPR6NVKWLOQP24SZJPMB76TGH7Y3 \
  --source alice \
  --network testnet \
  -- \
  upgrade \
  --new_wasm_hash aa24c81289997ad815489b29db337b53f284cca5aba86e9a8ae5cef7d31842c2

Invoke the version function again.

stellar contract invoke \
  --id CAS6FKBXGVXFGU2SPPPJJOIULJNPMPR6NVKWLOQP24SZJPMB76TGH7Y3 \
  --source alice \
  --network testnet \
  -- \
  version

Now that the contract was upgraded, you'll see a new version.

2

Hooray, our contract has been upgraded!