Meeting Summary:
ACDT number 89 focused on Glamsterdam DevNet topics, with the main discussion centered on DevNet 7 performance and planning for DevNet 8. Stefan provided an update on DevNet 7, reporting that the network held up well over the weekend with increased transaction loads, though some issues remained with Geth Builder and Nethermine builder not winning bids. Clients including Bezo and others reported performance issues and regressions that were subsequently fixed. The team discussed a repetitive builder scenario where clients were not consistently accepting the highest bids, with requests for more detailed logging and analysis of bid implementation behavior. Maria inquired about which EL clients had implemented optimizations for benchmarking purposes, with most clients confirming their implementations were ready. The group then moved to planning for DevNet 8, with Stefan suggesting an early August timeline around the following Wednesday, though concerns were raised about whether the final repricing numbers would be available by then. Bosul proposed making the EIP8070 sparse block pool engine API changes mandatory for DevNet 8, which received general approval from EL clients including Geth and others, though some concerns were raised about embedding the custody columns parameter in FCU4. The conversation ended with discussions of three EIP changes for DevNet 8, including EIP2780 repricing modifications and EIP837 renaming execution gas to execution gas, which were approved without objections. The team also addressed EIP797 regarding contract deployment at the fork boundary, deciding to maintain the current behavior where clients don’t check for or deploy the contract at the fork block, aligning with existing implementations.
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Stefan provided an update on DevNet 7, reporting that it performed well over the weekend with increased transaction loads, though some issues with Geth Builder and Nethermine builder regarding gas limits and bid winning were identified. Perry has started TISM scenarios that are expected to run over the next two days. Daniel Lehrner mentioned they encountered regression issues after implementing performance improvements but have since rolled back to a previous version and are investigating the cause. Stefan also noted ongoing testing of a repetitive builder scenario where clients are not consistently accepting higher bids.
The team discussed issues with bid implementation and circuit breakers across different clients. They identified the need for better logging to understand why certain bids are rejected, particularly when the circuit breaker is active. The group also discussed the status of optimizations across various Ethereum clients for DevNet 7 benchmarking, with most clients confirming they had implemented optimizations except for some regressions noted by Milen. Jochem agreed to share new benchmarking instructions after the call, and Marius reported that Geth’s parallel execution feature would be merged soon. The conversation ended with a discussion about transitioning to DevNet 8 planning.
The team discussed plans for DevNet 8, with Stefan proposing early August as a potential launch date around next week Wednesday. The group agreed to revisit the timeline in next week’s ACDE meeting due to pending items including final repricing numbers and client testing requirements. Key concerns included ensuring proper testing of consensus-breaking changes and whether DevNet 7 results would be sufficient for finalizing gas pricing numbers. The team also noted that the CL specs team would make an alpha.13 release for DevNet-8 by mid-week, and there was discussion about the sparse block pool feature that might need to be made mandatory.
The team discussed making EIP8070’s engine API changes mandatory for DevNet 8. Bosul explained that implementing these APIs would allow clients to use either GAP+B3 or GAP+B4 efficiently, providing a smoother transition to sparse block pool implementation. Most EL clients including Geth, Besu, and Nethermind expressed support for implementing only the engine API parts for DevNet 8, though concerns were raised about embedding the custody columns parameter in FCU4 rather than having a separate API call. The team agreed to proceed with the engine API implementation for DevNet 8, with plans to continue the discussion about the FCU parameter implementation asynchronously.
The team discussed two main topics regarding EIPs. First, they reviewed a proposal to rename “regular gas” to “execution gas” for better forward compatibility, with general agreement to proceed despite some confusion about what constitutes execution gas. Second, they addressed EIP 7997, where Toni and Jochem explained that the current implementation differences between Geth and other clients are acceptable since it only affects chains without pre-deployed factories, and the team agreed to close the related PRs without making changes. The conversation ended with a brief discussion about testnet timelines, noting that final decisions depend on SEAL client input and pending repricing updates.
Next Steps:
- Stefan: Leave DevNet 7 running for 24 hours to analyze changes after increased transaction load.
- Stefan: Link the performance-related issue report in the chat for others to review.
- Clients (EL clients): Investigate their bid implementation to ensure they always take the highest bid, and share findings.
- Nico: Provide more information or logging lines to indicate when the circuit breaker is active.
- Barnabas: Request and gather logs from clients about bids that are accepted or rejected.
- jochem-brouwer: Share instructions or a link for running the new benchmarks with State Actor after the call.
- Marius: Merge the parallel execution changes to the Geth master branch today or tomorrow.
- Stefan: Share the DevNet 8 spec sheet and testing tracker with the team.
- Clients (EL and CL): Review the DevNet 8 spec sheet and enable V5 without V4 fallback if possible.
- Bosul: Make the EIP-8070 Engine API changes mandatory for DevNet 8.
- EL clients (Geth, Nethermind, etc.): Implement the EIP-8070 Engine API changes for DevNet 8.
- Daniel Knopik: Raise concerns about embedding the custody columns parameter in FCU4 and discuss asynchronously.
- Clients (Geth): Consider aligning with other clients regarding EIP-7997 behavior by removing special logic at the fork boundary.
- Toni: Close the two open PRs related to EIP-7997 and clarify the current behavior in the EIP.
- Mario: Revisit the DevNet 8 launch date at the next ACDT meeting based on progress.
- Toni: Update one constant in BALS when final repricing numbers are available.
Recording Access: