Fix timings in e2e tests (#5304)

## Motivation
Fix flaky tests in `activation/e2e`. Test would randomly fail with the NIPostBuilder failing to fetch a poet proof.

## Changes
- ensure that the spawned PoET and the nipost builder use the same genesis time instead of `time.Now()`
- update PoET config to ensure that there is enough time to fetch a proof from PoET and retry in case PoET is slightly slow to generate the proof and the first request by NIPostBuilder fails

## Test Plan
n/a

## TODO
<!-- This section should be removed when all items are complete -->
- [x] Explain motivation or link existing issue(s)
- [x] Test changes and document test plan
- [x] Update documentation as needed
- [x] Update [changelog](../CHANGELOG.md) as needed

activation/e2e/nipost_test.go

@@ -134,18 +134,20 @@ func TestNIPostBuilderWithClients(t *testing.T) {
 	opts.Scrypt.N = 2 // Speedup initialization in tests.
 	initPost(t, logger.Named("manager"), mgr, opts)
 
+	// ensure that genesis aligns with layer timings
+	genesis := time.Now().Add(layerDuration).Round(layerDuration)
 	epoch := layersPerEpoch * layerDuration
 	poetCfg := activation.PoetConfig{
 		PhaseShift:        epoch / 2,
-		CycleGap:          epoch / 5,
+		CycleGap:          epoch / 4,
 		GracePeriod:       epoch / 5,
 		RequestTimeout:    epoch / 5,
 		RequestRetryDelay: epoch / 50,
 		MaxRequestRetries: 10,
 	}
 	poetProver := spawnPoet(
 		t,
-		WithGenesis(time.Now()),
+		WithGenesis(genesis),
 		WithEpochDuration(epoch),
 		WithPhaseShift(poetCfg.PhaseShift),
 		WithCycleGap(poetCfg.CycleGap),
@@ -154,8 +156,6 @@ func TestNIPostBuilderWithClients(t *testing.T) {
 	mclock := activation.NewMocklayerClock(ctrl)
 	mclock.EXPECT().LayerToTime(gomock.Any()).AnyTimes().DoAndReturn(
 		func(got types.LayerID) time.Time {
-			// time.Now() ~= currentLayer
-			genesis := time.Now().Add(-time.Duration(postGenesisEpoch.FirstLayer()) * layerDuration)
 			return genesis.Add(layerDuration * time.Duration(got))
 		},
 	)
@@ -266,18 +266,20 @@ func TestNewNIPostBuilderNotInitialized(t *testing.T) {
 	mgr, err := activation.NewPostSetupManager(sig.NodeID(), cfg, logger, cdb, goldenATX)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
+	// ensure that genesis aligns with layer timings
+	genesis := time.Now().Add(layerDuration).Round(layerDuration)
 	epoch := layersPerEpoch * layerDuration
 	poetCfg := activation.PoetConfig{
-		PhaseShift:        epoch / 5,
-		CycleGap:          epoch / 10,
-		GracePeriod:       epoch / 10,
-		RequestTimeout:    epoch / 10,
-		RequestRetryDelay: epoch / 100,
+		PhaseShift:        epoch / 2,
+		CycleGap:          epoch / 4,
+		GracePeriod:       epoch / 5,
+		RequestTimeout:    epoch / 5,
+		RequestRetryDelay: epoch / 50,
 		MaxRequestRetries: 10,
 	}
 	poetProver := spawnPoet(
 		t,
-		WithGenesis(time.Now()),
+		WithGenesis(genesis),
 		WithEpochDuration(epoch),
 		WithPhaseShift(poetCfg.PhaseShift),
 		WithCycleGap(poetCfg.CycleGap),
@@ -286,8 +288,6 @@ func TestNewNIPostBuilderNotInitialized(t *testing.T) {
 	mclock := activation.NewMocklayerClock(ctrl)
 	mclock.EXPECT().LayerToTime(gomock.Any()).AnyTimes().DoAndReturn(
 		func(got types.LayerID) time.Time {
-			// time.Now() ~= currentLayer
-			genesis := time.Now().Add(-time.Duration(postGenesisEpoch.FirstLayer()) * layerDuration)
 			return genesis.Add(layerDuration * time.Duration(got))
 		},
 	)

activation/e2e/validation_test.go

@@ -41,18 +41,20 @@ func TestValidator_Validate(t *testing.T) {
 	opts.Scrypt.N = 2 // Speedup initialization in tests.
 	initPost(t, logger.Named("manager"), mgr, opts)
 
+	// ensure that genesis aligns with layer timings
+	genesis := time.Now().Add(layerDuration).Round(layerDuration)
 	epoch := layersPerEpoch * layerDuration
 	poetCfg := activation.PoetConfig{
 		PhaseShift:        epoch / 2,
-		CycleGap:          epoch / 5,
+		CycleGap:          epoch / 4,
 		GracePeriod:       epoch / 5,
 		RequestTimeout:    epoch / 5,
 		RequestRetryDelay: epoch / 50,
 		MaxRequestRetries: 10,
 	}
 	poetProver := spawnPoet(
 		t,
-		WithGenesis(time.Now()),
+		WithGenesis(genesis),
 		WithEpochDuration(epoch),
 		WithPhaseShift(poetCfg.PhaseShift),
 		WithCycleGap(poetCfg.CycleGap),
@@ -61,8 +63,6 @@ func TestValidator_Validate(t *testing.T) {
 	mclock := activation.NewMocklayerClock(ctrl)
 	mclock.EXPECT().LayerToTime(gomock.Any()).AnyTimes().DoAndReturn(
 		func(got types.LayerID) time.Time {
-			// time.Now() ~= currentLayer
-			genesis := time.Now().Add(-time.Duration(postGenesisEpoch.FirstLayer()) * layerDuration)
 			return genesis.Add(layerDuration * time.Duration(got))
 		},
 	)

common/types/poet.go

@@ -111,11 +111,11 @@ func (p *PoetProofMessage) MarshalLogObject(encoder log.ObjectEncoder) error {
 }
 
 // Ref returns the reference to the PoET proof message. It's the blake3 sum of the entire proof message.
-func (proofMessage *PoetProofMessage) Ref() (PoetProofRef, error) {
-	poetProofBytes, err := codec.Encode(&proofMessage.PoetProof)
+func (p *PoetProofMessage) Ref() (PoetProofRef, error) {
+	poetProofBytes, err := codec.Encode(&p.PoetProof)
 	if err != nil {
 		return PoetProofRef{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal poet proof for poetId %x round %v: %w",
-			proofMessage.PoetServiceID, proofMessage.RoundID, err)
+			p.PoetServiceID, p.RoundID, err)
 	}
 	h := CalcHash32(poetProofBytes)
 	return (PoetProofRef)(h), nil

config/presets/fastnet.go

@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ func fastnet() config.Config {
 
 	conf.BaseConfig.OptFilterThreshold = 90
 	conf.BaseConfig.DatabasePruneInterval = time.Minute
-	conf.ATXGradeDelay = 1 * time.Second
 
 	// set for systest TestEquivocation
 	conf.BaseConfig.MinerGoodAtxsPercent = 50