Deploying Zig Programs on Solana: A Step-by-Step Guide

When it comes to deploying programs on the Solana blockchain, users often face issues related to ELF (Executable and Linkable Format) files. In this article, we will explore how to deploy Zig programs on Solana using the popular Rust-based development environment.

What is Solana?

Solana is a fast, decentralized, and scalable blockchain platform that allows developers to build a wide range of applications, from decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to gaming and social media platforms. To deploy a program on Solana, you need to compile it using the Solana compiler (solc), which can be done in two main ways: via the command line or through the Solana development environment.

Why Zig?

Zig is a new programming language that was released by Zircon.io, an open-source company based in California. It’s designed to be fast and efficient, making it a great choice for building programs on the Solana blockchain. In this article, we’ll focus on deploying Zig programs on Solana using solc.

Why ELF?

The main reason why you need an ELF file is because Solana uses a binary format called WASM (WebAssembly) to compile your program. However, when compiling with solc, you can choose to output the compiled code in a more traditional ELF format instead of WebAssembly. This allows you to deploy your Zig program on Solana using the solana-cli tool.

Step 1: Install solc and cargo

To start, you’ll need to install solc and Cargo, Rust’s package manager. You can do this by running the following commands:

Install solc using pip

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y libzircon-dev libwasm-time-0-dev



Install Cargo

sudo add-apt-repository -y "deadsnakes-org/deb-pull"

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install -y cargo

Step 2: Compile your Zig program using solc

To compile your Zig program, use the following command:

cargo build --release --target solana-base32 

Replace with the actual path to your Zig file. The --release flag tells Cargo to compile your program in release mode, which should be sufficient for deploying on Solana.

Step 3: Deploy your program to Solana

To deploy your program to Solana, use the following command:

solana-cli deploy  --pubkey 

Replace with the actual path to your Zig file and with your Solana public key. This will upload your compiled program to the Solana network, allowing you to deploy it to your applications.

Example Use Case

Here’s an example of how you can create a simple calculator application in Zig using solc:

const std = @import("std");


pub fn main() !void {

    // Define a struct to represent our calculator

    const Calculator = struct {

        pub add: fn (int, int) int,

        pub subtract: fn (int, int) int,

    };


    // Initialize the calculator with some initial values

    var calculator: Calculator = .{

        .add = std.mem.add,

        .subtract = std.mem.subtract,

    };


    // Create a new program using solc

    const Program = try std.heap.page_allocator.alloc(Program, 2);

    defer Program.deinit();


    Program.* = try Program.init(allocator(), calculator);


    // Test the add function

    try calculator.add(10, 5);

}

This code defines a simple calculator application with add and subtract functions. It then compiles this program into an ELF file using solc and deploys it to Solana using the solana-cli tool.

Conclusion

In this article, we explored how to deploy Zig programs on Solana using solc. By following these steps, you can compile your Zig programs using solc and deploy them to the Solana network.