Add substrate-interface maintenance application

[sterliakov]

Project Abstract

py-polkadot-sdk (available on PyPI as substrate-interface) is a Python SDK for interfacing with Substrate nodes. This package powers hundreds, if not thousands, of real-world projects: 235k PyPI downloads last month, 258 GitHub stars and no signs of decreasing usage. It is the primary Python SDK for interacting with Substrate, which means it is one of the cornerstones of server-side development that needs access to Substrate information and modifications.

Unfortunately, currently it is essentially unmaintained, with unit tests failing, lint violations silenced in CI, Python support lagging two versions behind, low type annotations coverage and tickets involving runtime crashes accumulating.

Grant level

• Level 1: Up to $10,000, 2 approvals
• Level 2: Up to $30,000, 3 approvals
• Level 3: Unlimited, 5 approvals (for >$100k: Web3 Foundation Council approval)

Application Checklist

• The application template has been copied and aptly renamed (project_name.md).
• I have read the application guidelines.
• Payment details have been provided (Polkadot AssetHub (USDC & DOT) address in the application and bank details via email, if applicable).
• I understand that an agreed upon percentage of each milestone will be paid in vested DOT, to the Polkadot address listed in the application.
• I am aware that, in order to receive a grant, I (and the entity I represent) have to successfully complete a KYC/KYB check.
• The software delivered for this grant will be released under an open-source license specified in the application.
• The initial PR contains only one commit (squash and force-push if needed).
• The grant will only be announced once the first milestone has been accepted (see the announcement guidelines).
• I prefer the discussion of this application to take place in a private Element/Matrix channel. My username is: @_______:matrix.org (change the homeserver if you use a different one)

[github-actions]

CLA Assistant Lite bot All contributors have signed the CLA ✍️ ✅

[sterliakov]

I have read and hereby sign the Contributor License Agreement.

[semuelle]

Hi @sterliakov. thanks for the application. Sounds like a good idea, and the maintainer already responded positively to your message. Let's just wait until there is a clearer agreement in place with regard to what the contributions and general maintenance will look like.

[semuelle]

Happy to give it a try. Please submit your data for our KYC check while the rest of the committee reviews, @sterliakov.

[sterliakov]

Hi! Thank you for your approval, will submit the KYC form today. Is anything else needed from me? Any clarifications to the proposal?

Aside, GitHub says "At least 5 approving reviews are required", is it a CI bug or my misunderstanding? Level 2 grants are described as requiring 3 approvals...

[laboon]

Hi! Thank you for your approval, will submit the KYC form today. Is anything else needed from me? Any clarifications to the proposal?

Aside, GitHub says "At least 5 approving reviews are required", is it a CI bug or my misunderstanding? Level 2 grants are described as requiring 3 approvals...

This is just the maximum required for any of the levels. Unfortunately you can't set it based on the level. But we can merge it once it receives the amount necessary for each level manually.

[laboon]

Yes. We definitely need someone to work on updating this and this seems like a very reasonable request.

[sterliakov]

Hi! Quite a late update, but it looks like I'm unable to convince any maintainer to actually look at my PR - I opened a few (in the main repo and in scale-codec repo) and tried to reach out by email directly, but no luck, no signs of activity anywhere. Would it make sense to migrate to a fork instead?

[semuelle]

Hey @sterliakov. That's disappointing. Feel free to submit milestone reports with links to your fork for now. If activity picks up again, we can still merge the work and delete the fork.