Ethereum Developers Delve into EIP 7742 and Pectra Upgrade at ACDC Call #144

On
October
17,
2024,
Ethereum
developers
convened
over
Zoom
for
the
144th
edition
of
the
All
Core
Developers
Consensus
(ACDC)
call,
as
detailed
by

galaxy.com.
Chaired
by
Ethereum
Foundation
Researcher
Alex
Stokes,
the
call
focused
on
pivotal
upgrades
and
proposals,
notably
the
inclusion
of
EIP
7742
in
the
Pectra
update.

Pectra
Upgrade
and
EIP
7742
Discussion

Developers
reached
a
consensus
to
incorporate
EIP
7742
into
the
Pectra
upgrade.
This
proposal
aims
to
enable
dynamic
adjustments
to
the
network’s
blob
gas
limits,
potentially
increasing
both
target
and
maximum
capacities.
However,
concerns
were
raised
about
potential
delays
in
activating
other
Pectra
changes
on
the
mainnet
due
to
the
inclusion
of
additional
EIPs.

Further
discussions
centered
around
the
testing
of
Pectra
and
PeerDAS
devnets.
Barnabas
Busa,
EF
Developer
Operations
Engineer,
indicated
plans
to
terminate
Pectra
Devnet
3,
pending
unresolved
issues
with
the
Grandine
client.
The
launch
of
Pectra
Devnet
4
is
contingent
on
successful
local
testing
of
execution
layer
clients.

Code
Specification
Updates

Key
specifications
for
the
Pectra
upgrade
were
scrutinized,
including
proposals
like
Consensus
Specs
PR#3900
and
PR#3767.
Developers
decided
against
integrating
complex
changes
due
to
implementation
hurdles.
The
importance
of
reviewing
a
bug
fix
for
EIP
7251
was
highlighted,
alongside
discussions
on
adding
SSZ
support
to
the
builder
API.

Teku
developer
Mikhail
Kalinin
pointed
out
potential
breaking
changes
in
Pectra
that
could
affect
application
developers,
urging
careful
consideration
of
these
impacts.

PeerDAS
and
Scaling
Solutions

The
meeting
also
covered
PeerDAS
specifications,
with
a
focus
on
rebasing
them
atop
Pectra
standards
to
enhance
debugging
and
testing
processes.
Discussions
on
the
new
Engine
API
specification, “engine_getBlobsV1,”
revealed
its
potential
to
improve
blob
transaction
handling,
though
it
could
increase
node
upload
bandwidth.

Francis
Li
from
Layer-2
rollup
Base
emphasized
the
need
for
increased
blob
capacity
within
Pectra,
proposing
specific
gas
target
adjustments.
This
was
linked
to
the
broader
implementation
of
EIP
7742,
which
would
facilitate
dynamic
setting
changes.

Upcoming
EIPs
and
Conference
Plans

New
proposals,
EIP
7782
and
7783,
were
debated
as
alternative
scaling
methods.
Concerns
were
raised
about
the
impact
of
these
proposals
on
network
bandwidth
and
ongoing
research
initiatives.
The
ACDC
call
on
November
14
was
canceled
due
to
the
upcoming
Devcon
conference
in
Bangkok,
where
many
developers
will
be
in
attendance.

This
ACDC
call
underscored
the
collaborative
efforts
of
Ethereum
developers
to
enhance
network
efficiency
and
scalability
through
strategic
upgrades
and
proposals.

Image
source:
Shutterstock