Ethereum Developers Remove EIP-7742 From Pectra, Prepare For Devnet 5 Launch By Year-End
In Brief
During the 147th “All Core Developers Consensus” call, Ethereum developers decided to remove EIP-7742 from Pectra and plan to launch Pectra Devnet 5 before the end of the year.
Developers of Ethereum, a decentralized blockchain, held their weekly meeting to discuss updates to the Ethereum consensus layer (CL), also known as the Beacon Chain. During the 147th “All Core Developers Consensus” (ACDC) call, the team decided to remove EIP-7742, which involves uncoupling the blob count between the CL and execution layer (EL) from Pectra. They also aimed to launch Pectra Devnet 5 before the end of the year.
According to the meeting transcript, Mekong, the public Pectra devnet based on specifications from Pectra Devnet 4, remains stable, with no new updates regarding the network’s health. Meanwhile, developers are continuing to finalize specifications for the upcoming launch of Pectra Devnet 5.
Barnabas Busa, Ethereum Foundation (EF) DevOps Engineer, emphasized that any changes to the gossip limit should be made during a hard fork to maintain consistency across all clients. Without this approach, consensus failures could arise if clients operate with different values. Besu developer Paul Harris noted that some variation among clients is already occurring, and the key focus now is to ensure consistency in future plans regarding the gossip limit. EF Researcher Dankrad Feist highlighted the urgency of the situation, calling the discrepancy in gossip limits across clients “a bug.” He stated, “I think that we need to make sure that there’s no consensus failures due to this limit. This should just be treated as a bug, and we should fix that right now, and then independently, we can raise that limit. There should be no case where raising the gas limit leads to a consensus failure.”
Additionally, developers agreed to remove EIP-7742, which would uncouple the blob count between CL and EL in Pectra. Instead, they decided to implement a change to the genesis configuration in clients, which would double the blob count in Pectra. EIP-7742 originally proposed that the blob target and maximum values be dynamically transmitted from the CL to the EL through the Engine API. However, upon further review, developers identified several challenges with this implementation. One key issue is that the EIP currently only considers the target blob count of the current block, whereas the target blob count of the parent block is actually required for calculating the excess blob gas.
Rather than address the complexities associated with implementing EIP-7742 and further delay Pectra’s progress, most developers in the meeting supported removing the EIP. Instead, they opted for modifying the genesis configuration, which allows blob count values to be updated in Pectra. However, future changes to the blob count will still require updates to both the CL and EL.
Ethereum Foundation Activates Mekong
This November, the Ethereum Foundation launched the Mekong testnet, a temporary environment designed to test the upcoming Pectra fork. The testnet incorporates all Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) planned for the Pectra upgrade, including user experience (UX) enhancements via EIP-7702, staking modifications through EIP-7251, and updates to deposit and exit mechanisms with EIPs-6110 and 7002.
Pectra, short for Prague – Electra, is the upcoming network upgrade for Ethereum. “Prague” refers to changes on the execution client side, while “Electra” pertains to updates on the consensus layer client side. The Pectra upgrade introduces three major features, along with several smaller EIPs: Max Effective Balance, Account Abstraction, and Execution Layer-triggered Exits.
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About The Author
Alisa, a dedicated journalist at the MPost, specializes in cryptocurrency, zero-knowledge proofs, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a keen eye for emerging trends and technologies, she delivers comprehensive coverage to inform and engage readers in the ever-evolving landscape of digital finance.
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Alisa, a dedicated journalist at the MPost, specializes in cryptocurrency, zero-knowledge proofs, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a keen eye for emerging trends and technologies, she delivers comprehensive coverage to inform and engage readers in the ever-evolving landscape of digital finance.
