fe95d7cb6d
This PR introduces a new `byte` type equivalent in all aspects to `uint8` except that it has additional intent and display semantics attached. On top of this, the PR adds a canonical JSON mapping to the SSZ specification, documenting current usage of JSON in tests, API:s and simplifying future interop work between clients and adjacent specifications such as the Beacon API. The encoding is appropriate to use with YAML as well. As an important property, this mapping contains a 1:1 mapping of SSZ type to JSON encoding - this allows round-tripping any object between JSON and SSZ based on the SSZ schema and usage of the core SSZ types alone. The encoding presented in this PR is used in tests and API:s with one exception: the `ParticipationFlags` type from the Altair spec - it is recommended we switch encoding in tests and eventually the beacon API to address this irregularity, so as to avoid a proliferation "special" primitive types in the SSZ spec that only appear in particular schemas (and thus making validating general-purpose `SSZ/JSON` parsers more complex) as well as differences in encoding between fields of the same SSZ type. The PR also clarifies that the introduction of new aliases does not lead to changes in their canonical JSON specification - this allows building general SSZ/JSON libraries that do not further depend on open-ended knowledge about aliases. This PR should be seen as an alternative to https://github.com/ethereum/consensus-specs/pull/2983.
Ethereum Proof-of-Stake Consensus Specifications
To learn more about proof-of-stake and sharding, see the PoS documentation, sharding documentation and the research compendium.
This repository hosts the current Ethereum proof-of-stake 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 Ethereum proof-of-stake clients can be found in specs. These are divided into features. Features are researched and developed in parallel, and then consolidated into sequential upgrades when ready.
Stable Specifications
| Seq. | Code Name | Fork Epoch | Specs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Phase0 | 0 |
|
| 1 | Altair | 74240 |
|
| 2 | Bellatrix ("The Merge") |
144896 |
|
| 3 | Capella | 194048 |
In-development Specifications
| Code Name or Topic | Specs | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Deneb (tentative) | ||
| Sharding (outdated) |
|
|
| Custody Game (outdated) |
|
Dependent on sharding |
| Data Availability Sampling (outdated) |
|
|
| EIP-6110 |
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 the Ethereum proof-of-stake consensus specifications:
- 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:
Online viewer of the latest release (latest master branch)
Consensus spec tests
Conformance tests built from the executable python spec are available in the Ethereum Proof-of-Stake Consensus Spec Tests repo. Compressed tarballs are available in releases.