# Implementing WebAssembly Proposals

## Adding New Support for a Wasm Proposal

The following checkboxes enumerate the steps required to add support for a new
WebAssembly proposal to Wasmtime. They can be completed over the course of
multiple pull requests.

* <input type="checkbox"/> Add support to the
  [`wasmparser`](https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasm-tools/tree/main/crates/wasmparser)
  crate.

* <input type="checkbox"/> Add support to the
  [`wat`](https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasm-tools/tree/main/crates/wat)
  and
  [`wast`](https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasm-tools/tree/main/crates/wast)
  crates.

* <input type="checkbox"/> Add support to the
  [`wasmprinter`](https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasm-tools/tree/main/crates/wasmprinter)
  crate.

* <input type="checkbox"/> Add support to the
  [`wasm-encoder`](https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasm-tools/tree/main/crates/wasm-encoder)
  crate.

* <input type="checkbox"/> Add support to the
  [`wasm-smith`](https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasm-tools/tree/main/crates/wasm-smith)
  crate.

* <input type="checkbox"/> Add a `wasmtime::Config::enable_foo_bar` method to
  the `wasmtime` crate.

* <input type="checkbox"/> Add a `--enable-foo-bar` command line flag to the
  `wasmtime` binary.

* <input type="checkbox"/> Enable the spec tests in
  [`build.rs`](https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime/blob/c7cd70fcec3eee66c9d7b5aa6fb4580d5a802218/build.rs#L41-L52)
  but [mark them as
  ignored](https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime/blob/c7cd70fcec3eee66c9d7b5aa6fb4580d5a802218/build.rs#L196)
  for now.

* <input type="checkbox"/> Stop ignoring individual spec tests and get them
  passing one by one.

* <input type="checkbox"/> Enable the proposal in [the fuzz
  targets](./contributing-fuzzing.html).

  * <input type="checkbox"/> Add examples from the spec tests to [the relevant
    corpora](https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime-libfuzzer-corpus).

    > The `wast2json` tool from [WABT] is useful for this.

  * <input type="checkbox"/> Write a custom fuzz target, oracle, and/or test
    case generator for fuzzing this proposal in particular.

    > For example, we wrote a [custom
    > generator](https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime/blob/c7cd70fcec3eee66c9d7b5aa6fb4580d5a802218/crates/fuzzing/src/generators/table_ops.rs),
    > [oracle](https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime/blob/c7cd70fcec3eee66c9d7b5aa6fb4580d5a802218/crates/fuzzing/src/oracles.rs#L417-L467),
    > and [fuzz
    > target](https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime/blob/c7cd70fcec3eee66c9d7b5aa6fb4580d5a802218/fuzz/fuzz_targets/table_ops.rs)
    > for exercising `table.{get,set}` instructions and their interaction with
    > GC while implementing the reference types proposal.

* <input type="checkbox"/> Expose the proposal's new functionality in the
  `wasmtime` crate's API.

  > For example, the bulk memory operations proposal introduced a `table.copy`
  > instruction, and we exposed its functionality as the `wasmtime::Table::copy`
  > method.

* <input type="checkbox"/> Expose the proposal's new functionality in the C API.

  > This may require extensions to the standard C API, and if so, should be
  > defined in
  > [`wasmtime.h`](https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime/blob/c7cd70fcec3eee66c9d7b5aa6fb4580d5a802218/crates/c-api/include/wasmtime.h)
  > and prefixed with `wasmtime_`.

* <input type="checkbox"/> Use the C API to expose the proposal's new
  functionality in the other language embedding APIs:

  * <input type="checkbox"/> [Python](https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime-py/)

  * <input type="checkbox"/> [Go](https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime-go/)

  * <input type="checkbox"/> [.NET](https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime-dotnet/)

* <input type="checkbox"/> Document support for the proposal in
  `wasmtime/docs/stability-wasm-proposals-support.md`.

## Enabling Support for a Proposal by Default

These are the standards that must be met to enable support for a proposal by
default in Wasmtime, and can be used as a review checklist.

* <input type="checkbox"/> The proposal must be in phase 4, or greater, of [the
  WebAssembly standardization process][phases].

* <input type="checkbox"/> All spec tests must be passing in Wasmtime.

* <input type="checkbox"/> No open questions, design concerns, or serious known
  bugs.

* <input type="checkbox"/> Has been fuzzed for at least a week minimum.

* <input type="checkbox"/> We are confident that the fuzzers are fully
  exercising the proposal's functionality.

  > For example, it would *not* have been enough to simply enable reference
  > types in the `compile` fuzz target to enable that proposal by
  > default. Compiling a module that uses reference types but not instantiating
  > it nor running any of its functions doesn't exercise any of the GC
  > implementation and does not run the inline fast paths for `table` operations
  > emitted by the JIT. Exercising these things was the motivation for writing
  > the custom fuzz target for `table.{get,set}` instructions.

* <input type="checkbox"/> The proposal's functionality is exposed in the
  `wasmtime` crate's API.

* <input type="checkbox"/> The proposal's functionality is exposed in the C API.

* <input type="checkbox"/> The proposal's functionality is exposed in at least
  one of the other languages' APIs.

[phases]: https://github.com/WebAssembly/meetings/blob/master/process/phases.md
[WABT]: https://github.com/WebAssembly/wabt/