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

When it comes to distributing programs on the Solana blockchain, users often encounter issues related to ELF (Executable and Linkable Format) files. In this article, we will show you 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, it must be compiled using the Solana compiler (solc), which can be done in two main ways: from the command line or via the Solana development environment.

Why Zig?

Zig is a new programming language released by Zircon.io, an open source company based in California. It is designed to be fast and efficient, making it perfect for building programs on the Solana blockchain. In this article, we will focus on distributing Zig programs on Solana using solc.

Why ELF?

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

Step 1: Install Solc and Cargo

To get started, you need to install solc and Cargo, the Rust package manager. This can be done 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 with solc

To compile Zig, 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 the program in release mode, which should be sufficient for distribution in Solana.

Step 3: Deploying the program to Solana

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

solana-cli deploy  --pubkey 

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

Use case example

Here is an example of how to create a simple calculator app in Zig using solc:

const std = @import("std");
pub fn main() !void {
// Define a struct representing our calculator
const Calculator = struct {
pub add: fn (int, int) int,
subtract pub: 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 = test std.heap.page_allocator.alloc(Program, 2);
put Program.deinit();
Program.* = test Program.init(allocator(), calculator);
// Try the addition function
test calculator.add(10, 5);
}

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

Conclusion

In this article, we will check how to deploy Zig programs on Solana using solc. By following the steps below, you can compile Zig programs using solc and share them on the Solana network.

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