> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://mitja.gitbook.io/papers/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://mitja.gitbook.io/papers/everscale-white-paper/readme/chapter-two-ever-kernel-ek/context.md). # Context In 2018 Dr. Nikolai Durov released a series of papers in which he described a Virtual Machine, network and consensus protocols, which were dubbed TON. In late 2019 a prototype of C++ network node implementation was released by Dr. Durov and his team. Starting from 2018, TON Labs, using just documents available at that date, started to work on a parallel and completely independent implementation of the protocol in Rust programming language. In the first half of 2020 the full node implementation in Rust was released followed by the validator node release in late 2020. In computer system terms we view Dr. Durov’s design as a distributed virtual microprocessor or network operating system kernel, thus it is called Ever Kernel or EK version 1.0 or similar, throughout that paper. While the design laid a very solid foundation, to answer the requirements of a truly decentralized, distributed, secure, sustainable, scalable, low latency world computer, it had to be developed further. When TON Labs created Ever Operating System and community has launched the Everscale network, the design and real usage requirements of the network demanded not only additional functionality and modules on top of the Kernel, but quite significant changes in the underlying architecture itself, which is often the case in any computing system design evolution (let’s call it Ever OS Kernel). The Ever Kernel provides a system with the following components: virtual processing engine (Virtual Machine), network protocol stack responsible for addressing, virtual messaging buses connecting Virtual Machines (DHT, ADNL, Overlay, Broadcast and RLDP protocols), and a consensus layer that synchronizes and validates the execution of smart contract code on Virtual Machines of different physical computers over the network (Catchain, BFT). To that stack of EK protocols we have made several additions that will be discussed in some details later in this section: REMP (Reliable External Messaging Protocol)\ MBPP (MasterChain Block Propagation Protocol)\ SMFT (Soft Majority Fault Tolerance)\ MSRP (Masterchain Slashing and Recovery Protocol)\ DDVS (Distributed Dynamic Validator Set) Many enhancements and optimizations are constantly made to the existing EK protocols , but they are largely falling outside of the scope of this document. It is important to mention though, that some of these changes are incompatible with the first version of Ever Kernel. We will concentrate in this paper just on the significant changes we made, leaving the smaller patches and changes out. We will discuss the code handling, bootstrapping and upgradability issues in a separate chapter. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter: ``` GET https://mitja.gitbook.io/papers/everscale-white-paper/readme/chapter-two-ever-kernel-ek/context.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.