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Ethereum’s weekly All Core Developer discussions are quite challenging to follow, thus this “Checkpoint” series provides overarching updates approximately every 4-5 weeks, depending on current developments in the core ecosystem. Check the earlier update here.
tl;dr
Core developers are concentrated on finalizing Fusaka and determining the key feature(s) for the upcoming upgrade, Glamsterdam. Ongoing discussions and feedback from stakeholders are being requested. Gas limit enhancements and history expiry have both been accomplished!
Fusaka
Fusaka will facilitate lower-cost L2 transactions and enhanced data availability. Developers were already accelerating the enhancement to deploy PeerDAS and it’s now the final countdown. They’re targeting a launch by year-end, which may not appear immediate but the schedule is influenced by several critical limitations: Devconnect in November and time contingencies requested by community and security teams. Owing to these limitations, a feature that wasn’t fully prepared had to be excluded from the Fusaka agenda.
Timeline
Two 30-day buffers have been included in the upgrade schedule since the Pectra upgrade:
- 30 days between client releases and the initial testnet upgrade. This was asked for by security teams, who need time to conduct security assessments and auditing processes. With this buffer, we augment the likelihood of seamless testnet upgrades. When Holešky encountered an unfinalizing condition with the Pectra testnet upgrade, application developers made it clear that, although these networks are intended for testing, they also depend on them to prepare their protocols for upgrades and wish to reduce disturbances on them
- 30 days notice before the mainnet upgrade date. L2s and bridges have their own procedures to undergo in preparation for an Ethereum upgrade that can include their stakeholders voting to opt in or initiating a time-locked process that cannot be expedited. This buffer provides protocols with predictability in Ethereum upgrades to ensure readiness at the upgrade time instead of hastily preparing to adapt
Moreover, the upgrade is tested across several testnets (currently, two: Sepolia & Hoodi) that resemble the Ethereum mainnet more closely than the developer networks. Time is required to assess the upgrade on these testnets, identify potential issues, and coordinate final adjustments. This generally takes a couple of weeks per testnet.
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EIP-7907
EIP-7907, which enhances the contract code size threshold and incorporates a gas metering for code loading, was excluded from Fusaka due to the absence of essential benchmarking, posing a risk of postponing the Fusaka schedule. While less complex propositions to augment the codesize were suggested as substitutes, their timelines were indefinite and they still would likely have delayed Fusaka, leading to their rejection. This was a letdown for numerous developers but, for those curious, there’s a chance to assist in refining it for the next upgrade, Glamsterdam. Its inclusion is not presently assured and will necessitate a champion to get it into shape.
Glamsterdam
A revised, more structured approach for deciding the characteristics of an upgrade is being tested with this version. The upgrade will first select its ‘key feature(s)’, then pick the additional, minor features based on the headliner(s). The aim is to select a maximum of one headliner for the consensus layer and another for the execution layer. A new tool developed by the EF, Forkcast, is supporting this initiative by clearly presenting the headliner options and their impacts on various stakeholder categories.
To supplement this, community input is being gathered to encourage the public to express their views on what should headline this upgrade, and this feedback is being considered alongside client team viewpoints.
Decision timeline
Discussions regarding the options for both layers are ongoing until mid-August, when a resolution is anticipated. The forthcoming calls are scheduled for July 31st (consensus) and August 7th (execution). After headliners are decided, the timeline for minor feature proposals that can accompany the primary headline features will be negotiated. This is, for instance, when a champion for EIP-7907 would need to engage in calls.
Gas limit
During Berlinterop, testing teams and clients identified a safe threshold to recommend a gas limit enhancement to: 45M. Once the recommendation was issued, it wasn’t long before enough operators adjusted their limits to 45M (or updated their clients with a new default setting). At the time of writing, the most recent block’s gas limit stands at 45,043,901 gas. Testing teams are currently working on methods to progressively reach higher limits—there will no longer be years between gas limit enhancement suggestions.
source: gaslimit.pics
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History expiry
History expiry has been finalized! Clients now by default discard pre-merge history in validators. The subsequent phase for history expiry involves the implementation of ‘rolling’ history expiry – indicating that the date prior to which history is eliminated will advance in real time to prevent storage from continually increasing. Notes related to the history expiry planning meeting at Berlinterop can be found here.
To ensure that Fusaka is launched before Devconnect, clients must release updates by mid-to-late August and the testnet upgrades should face minimal issues. This scenario would place a mainnet upgrade in early November. However, if we encounter hurdles, we may lose a couple of weeks, making it somewhat unrealistic to anticipate core developers being available during a highly attended, large event like Devconnect. We might witness a post-Devconnect, pre-‘holiday season’ upgrade (as we have before!). The drive to release this fork is strong, and I still expect it by year’s end.
Debates concerning Glamsterdam headliners have been amicably contentious – most proponents for a feature feel passionately about its immediacy. If we can launch Fusaka by year-end, it will soften these discussions since a quicker upgrade pace reduces the urgency to include a feature in the next immediate upgrade.
I’m quite encouraged by the diversity and number of ethereum community members participating in the discussions: L2s, bridges, RPC providers, staking protocols, DAOs, relays, home stakers, custodians, DEXs, etc. are actively involved in the process of shaping the core protocol.
Relevant ACD calls:
[ June 16th – July 28th ]
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