The existing code was almost entirely applicable. It just needed to be scoped
with an ID. While the handle function is now a bit convoluted, I don't see a
better option.
[0; 32] is a magic for no block has been set yet due to this being the first
key pair. If [0; 32] is the latest finalized block, the processor determines
an activation block based on timestamps.
This doesn't use an Option for ergonomic reasons.
It originally wasn't an enum so software which had yet to update before an
integration wouldn't error (as now enums are strictly typed). The strict typing
is preferable though.
SubstrateBlock's provision of the most recently acknowledged block has
equivalent information with the same latency. Accordingly, there's no need for
it.
Step moved a step forward after an externally synced/added block. This created
a race condition to add the block between the sync process and the Tendermint
machine. Now that the block routes through Tendermint, there is no such race
condition.
Previously, Tendermint needed to be live more than it needed to be correct.
Under the original intention for it, correctness would fail if any coin
desynced, which would cause the node to fail entirely. By accepting a
supermajority's view of state, despite its own, a single coin's failure would
only lead to inability to participate with that single coin.
Now that Tendermint is solely for Tributary, nodes should halt a coin-specific
chain if their view of the chain differs. They are unable to meaningless
participate regardless.
This also means a supermajority of validators can no longer fake messages from
other validators, allowing the Tributary chain to use uniform weights with much
less impact. There is still enough impact they can't be used (ability to cause
a fork), yet they should allow uniform block production (as that's solely a DoS
concern).
While we prior could've simply additionally checked signatures, add_block's
lack of a failure case would've meant it had to panic. This would've been a DoS
possible a minority-weight *which affected the entire coordinator* and
therefore *the entire validator for all coins*.
