2a91b43eaf
Only store a 32 byte root for every shard block Rationale: originally, I added shard block chunking (store 4 chunks for every shard block instead of one root) to facilitate construction of data availability roots. However, it turns out that there is an easier technique. Set the width of the data availability rectangle's rows to be 1/4 the max size of a shard block, so each block would fill multiple rows. Then, non-full blocks will generally create lots of zero rows. For example if the block bodies are `31415926535` and `897932` with a max size of 24 bytes, the rows might look like this: ``` 31415926 53500000 00000000 89793200 00000000 00000000 ``` Zero rows would extend rightward to complete zero rows, and when extending downward we can count the number of zero rows, and reduce the number of extra rows that we make, so we only make a new row for every nonzero row in the original data. This way we get only a close-to-optimal ~4-5x blowup in the data even if the data has zero rows in the middle.
Ethereum 2.0 Specifications
To learn more about sharding and Ethereum 2.0 (Serenity), see the sharding FAQ and the research compendium.
This repository hosts the current Eth2 specifications. Discussions about design rationale and proposed changes can be brought up and discussed as issues. Solidified, agreed-upon changes to the spec can be made through pull requests.
Specs
Core specifications for Eth2 clients be found in specs/. These are divided into phases. Each subsequent phase depends upon the prior. The current phases specified are:
Phase 0
Phase 1
- From Phase 0 to Phase 1
- The Beacon Chain for Shards
- Custody Game
- Shard Transition and Fraud Proofs
- Light client syncing protocol
Phase 2
Phase 2 is still actively in R&D and does not yet have any formal specifications.
See the Eth2 Phase 2 Wiki for current progress, discussions, and definitions regarding this work.
Accompanying documents can be found in specs and include:
Additional specifications for client implementers
Additional specifications and standards outside of requisite client functionality can be found in the following repos:
Design goals
The following are the broad design goals for Ethereum 2.0:
- to minimize complexity, even at the cost of some losses in efficiency
- to remain live through major network partitions and when very large portions of nodes go offline
- to select all components such that they are either quantum secure or can be easily swapped out for quantum secure counterparts when available
- to utilize crypto and design techniques that allow for a large participation of validators in total and per unit time
- to allow for a typical consumer laptop with
O(C)resources to process/validateO(1)shards (including any system level validation such as the beacon chain)
Useful external resources
For spec contributors
Documentation on the different components used during spec writing can be found here: