Louisa Crawford
July 19, 2024 04:32
Ethereum developers discussed important changes and major proposals for the execution layer in the Core Developers’ Call #192.
On July 18, 2024, Ethereum protocol developers gathered virtually for the All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) Call #192. According to Galaxy.com, this biweekly meeting, chaired by Ethereum Foundation (EF) Protocol Support Director Tim Beiko, focuses on discussing and coordinating changes to Ethereum’s execution layer (EL).
Discussion of EOF and EIP 7702
This week, developers have been discussing extensively the inclusion of the Ethereum Virtual Machine Object Format (EOF) in the upcoming Pectra upgrade. Geth developer Marius van der Wijden has expressed strong concerns about the complexity and risks associated with changing the EOF code. Despite the lengthy discussion, no final decision has been made on the proposed changes to EOF or EIP 7702.
Tim Beiko highlighted three additions to Pectra that developers should look into in the coming weeks. However, there was no update on EIP 4444 during the call.
Pectra DevNet 1
The update for Pectra Devnet 1 was provided by EF Developers Operations team member pk910. Since the release of Devnet 0 in May, client teams have experienced several setbacks in preparing for the new implementation. However, all client teams are now ready, and most of the issues discovered during testing have been resolved. The Prysm and Erigon teams are still working on fixes, and the developers plan to release Devnet 1 with all clients on July 25th.
EOF concerns
EOF represents a set of code changes that improve the functionality of smart contract code execution. Despite the potential benefits, van der Wijden has expressed strong opposition, citing implementation risks. “I think it’s dangerous, and I think the risks outweigh the benefits,” he said. On the other hand, Daniel Kirchner of the EF Solidity team argued that EOF is a “good design” and essential for layer 2 rollups (L2).
The debate expanded to Ethereum’s role in a rollup-centric future. EF researcher Ansgar Dietrichs and Prysm developer “Potuz” advocated for including EOF, while Geth developer “Lightclient” argued for a simpler Layer 1 (L1) infrastructure. Independent developer Danno Ferrin stressed that EVM improvements are essential for Ethereum’s survival, while van der Wijden and Lightclient were skeptical about the long-term benefits of EOF.
Team Beco suggested proceeding with EOF on Pectra for now, but offered the option to reconsider if safety concerns arise closer to the fork release.
EIP 7702 Proposed Changes
Ankit Chiplunkar of Frontier Tech proposed changes to EIP 7702, which was discussed at the WalletConnect conference. These changes aim to expand the use cases of EIP 7702 and improve security. However, some developers, including Julian Rachman of Otim Labs and Elias Tazartes of Kakarot zkEVM, have opposed these changes, claiming that they add unnecessary complexity.
The developers were unable to reach a consensus on the proposed changes, and Beiko recommended that discussions continue asynchronously on Discord. He acknowledged that the spec may change in the future on Devnet after further testing and discussion.
What’s new in Pectra
Due to time constraints, Beiko recommended discussing the remaining agenda topics asynchronously. Lightclient suggested distributing system contracts with event logs for the future Pectra devnet. Beiko highlighted EIP 7742 and RIP 7212 as potential additions to Pectra, but stressed that they should focus on releasing Pectra Devnet 1 first.
There are no updates for EIP 4444.
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