Sudo is gone: the Robonomics cloud is now run by its community
Sudo is removed, governance belongs to XRT holders: how to propose a change, how to vote, and what else is in runtime 52. EnsRationis [Robonomics Software Architect]
On 15 October the Robonomics cloud on Polkadot moved to version 52, and Sudo is no longer in it. Long live democracy.
Sudo is gone
Sudo was the key that let the development team change the network on its own: ship new versions, change parameters, fix mistakes. It was the right tool for launching a network. It has no place in a network that real devices and real people rely on.
Now nobody holds it: not us, not anyone. Its removal was itself a referendum of XRT holders. The network upgraded itself, as we promised in September. Sudo could only come back the same way, by a decision of the community.
How the network is governed now
Every change to the network’s rules is decided by a vote of XRT holders, through OpenGov, Polkadot’s standard mechanism. There are two paths:
- General. Anyone can submit a referendum, without asking the team. This is how everything that is not urgent gets decided.
- Fast, for urgent technical fixes. The Core Team, a small group of developers, reviews one specific change and lets it go to an accelerated vote. XRT holders still decide. The Core Team cannot launch anything by itself.
The Core Team’s membership, the thresholds and the voting periods can also be changed only by referendum.
How to propose a change
- Describe the idea on GitHub: what changes and why. A referendum that was discussed first gets votes far more easily.
- Submit a referendum in Polkadot.js, in the governance section of the Robonomics network. Submitting takes a small deposit to keep spam out, and the deposit is returned.
- Tell the community about it and ask people to vote.
How to vote
- Keep your XRT in a wallet you control on the Robonomics network. Tokens on an exchange cannot vote.
- Your vote counts for more if you lock your tokens for longer.
- No time to follow every vote? Delegate to someone you trust.
What else is in version 52
- Devices get an address of their own. A node in the Robonomics device tree, whether a sensor, a room or a home, can now be bound to its own account and addressed directly.
- A fresh Polkadot base. The network moved to a new version of the Polkadot SDK, and apps can now read device tree data more easily.
- Phase one of the Robonomics 5.0 plan is complete. Next comes subscriptions: a device will be able to use the network without holding XRT itself.
Developer details are in the v52 release notes.
— EnsRationis, Robonomics Software Architect · https://x.com/EnsRationis