Output sum column of the epoch table can overflow

[erikd]

On some testnets (i was aware of the benchmarking team hitting this over 3 months ago) it is possible for the sum of the tx outputs for an epoch to overflow the Word64 values. This is related to #163

The best solution for this would be to use Word128 for the output sum field. I do have a WIP branch with this idea, but it needs some work.

[erikd]

The output sum field is a Word64 which only allows positive and zero values. However as related in #163 the Persistent library treats Word64 like Int64 which allows positive and negative values.

When the sum of transactions outputs is greater than 102 times max lovelace in the system (basically maxBound :: Int64) then the output sum that is to be written to the database becomes negative and that violates a domain constraint that the sum should be >= 0.

There are two possible solutions to this:

• Fix Word64 in the upstream Persistent library. I have already started on this but there is a lot of work on this and requires significant coordination with the upstream Persistent authors. The downside of this is that it is still possible to overflow the maxBound :: Word64 .
• Switch to from Word64 to Word128. This would actually make it close to impossible to overflow and there is simply not enough block space in an epoch to contain enough transactions to overflow this value. I made two quick attempts to do this and I was not happy with either of them. They could be revisited.