Ethereum Developers Discuss Pectra Devnet 5 and Consensus Layer Updates
On December 12, 2024, Ethereum developers convened via Zoom for the 147th All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call, chaired by Ethereum Foundation Researcher Alex Stokes. These biweekly meetings are pivotal for discussing the coordination of changes to Ethereum's consensus layer, also known as the Beacon Chain, according to galaxy.com.
Mekong and Pectra Devnet 5
The Mekong testnet, a public Pectra devnet, remains stable following a recent block gas limit increase from 30 million to 36 million gas. Developers are finalizing specifications for Pectra Devnet 5, with minor renaming in consensus specifications to align with validator withdrawals. Erigon developer Giulio Rebuffo proposed increasing the “GOSSIP_MAX_SIZE” from 10 to 15 mebibytes, allowing a safe increase in the block gas limit on the execution layer (EL) from 30 million to 60 million gas.
Ethereum Foundation DevOps Engineer Barnabas Busa emphasized that any change to the gossip limit should occur at a hard fork to ensure consistency across all clients, avoiding consensus failures. Besu developer Paul Harris acknowledged some existing client variation, urging a consistent plan moving forward.
EIP 7742 and Other EIPs
Developers agreed to remove EIP 7742, initially intended to uncouple blob count between the consensus layer (CL) and EL, due to implementation complications. Instead, a doubling of the blob count in Pectra through a change to the genesis configuration will be implemented. EIP 7251, which increases the maximum effective balance, saw updates to address edge cases and improve validator selection processes.
EF Researcher Ansgar Dietrichs noted that EIP 7762, concerning the minimum blob base fee, will be excluded from the Pectra upgrade, as rollups have managed workarounds, reducing its urgency.
PeerDAS and Future Plans
EF Researcher Justin Traglia proposed renaming EIP 7549, PeerDAS, to “Fulu” specifications, indicating plans to include it in the next upgrade after Pectra. Additionally, EF Protocol Support Lead Tim Beiko discussed a proposal to update EIP 7723, aiming to clarify the stages an EIP must go through before activation in a network upgrade.
As developers work towards launching Pectra Devnet 5, EF DevOps Engineer Parithosh Jayanthi urged teams to prepare for Hive tests, indicating a potential launch between Christmas and New Year’s if enough clients are ready.