ACDT #86 · Spec freeze after devnet7 is final
AllCoreDevs - Testing #086 · 2026-07-06
Run one more devnet, then effectively freeze the specification.
Settled on Glamsterdam devnet-7 as the last devnet and agreed to a light spec freeze after launch. After that, only fine-tuning at the parameter level, such as gas cost constants, is allowed.
Why it matters
If devnet-7 is the last testnet, the Glamsterdam specification is effectively locked in. After that, structural changes are blocked and only minor constant adjustments are possible, so client teams will focus on stabilizing tests instead of new designs.
Decisions
- devnet-7 final: Glamsterdam devnet-7 will be the last devnet, with a light spec freeze after launch. This means no further devnets will be run and the specification is effectively frozen.
- Parameter adjustments only: After the freeze, only standalone parameter changes such as the gas costs in EIP-8038 and 2780 are allowed, and structural changes are blocked. Constant values may be tuned, but the design will not change.
Discussion
Besu instability and Prysm's FCU behavior
A segment weighing whether the cause of Besu nodes going offline in devnet-6 was Prysm's behavior of sending new payloads without an FCU.
Nimbus self-building and builder blocks
This section points out that some Nimbus nodes build blocks themselves instead of using a remote block builder, which makes it hard to find chains that use only builders.
Make devnet-7 the final one and freeze the spec
This section settles whether to confirm devnet-7 as the last devnet and how far to lock the specification afterward.
Outcome: Confirmed 00:21:51
EIP-2780 floor gas input spec test mismatch
This section raises a bug where the spec test uses a different value from EIP-2780 as the input to the floor gas calculation, proposing to fix it before devnet-7.
Glossary
- SFI (Scheduled For Inclusion): Scheduled for Inclusion in the fork
- CFI (Considered For Inclusion): Considered for Inclusion stage in the fork
- PFI (Proposed For Inclusion): Proposed for Inclusion, accepted and kept as a candidate
- DFI (Declined For Inclusion): Dropped from fork candidates
- FCU (forkchoiceUpdated): An Engine API call in which the consensus layer tells the execution layer the chain head
- Devnet: A developer testnet where clients line up with each other before a fork
- Spec freeze: Freezing the specification so that it is not changed any further
- Stable containers: A change to the SSZ serialization format of consensus layer data structures