ACDC #172: Call Minutes + Insights
My pet peeve is talking about soup when we're going to have ramen
Good evening,
I’m getting closer to my usual send time for these newsletters, which is a good sign that I’m settling into the new format. How about you? I’m curious to know what you think of my extended and more opinionated takes on the Ethereum developer calls.
Tonight’s newsletter features another one of my extended takes on the state of Ethereum development. This one is based on the All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) meeting that happened earlier today, ACDC #172.
You can find the full meeting transcript and video recording on Forkcast.
Below you’ll find my summary and takeaways on the call.
As a reminder, I plan to transition my call summaries out of these newsletters eventually, as soon as Forkcast (or another site) can provide you with the same information of equal or higher quality.
But what I plan to continue—and to lean into more with this new format—are my insights and takeaways on Ethereum development. I believe this perspective is where I can add the most value and offer context you’re unlikely to find elsewhere.
Read on and see if you agree.
Yours truly,
Christine D. Kim
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(For background on the ACD process and jargon used on these calls, refer to the Ethereum Governance 101 document in the ACD Toolkit.)
Announcements
There’s a new breakout meeting series for client teams implementing the fast confirmation rule (FCR), an alternative algorithm that validators can run to confirm Ethereum blocks in seconds rather than minutes.
Ethereum Foundation (EF) Protocol Support Team Lead Nixo Rokish is requesting feedback on refinements to the notion of Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) “champions” in the EIP process.
Fusaka
The second blob-parameter-only (BPO) hard fork was successfully activated on Ethereum mainnet, adding 40% more block space for blob transactions.
Glamsterdam
Developers agreed to consider for inclusion (CFI) EIP-8070, Sparse blobpool, for Glamsterdam. This is a feature that impacts both the consensus layer (CL) and the execution layer (EL) of Ethereum.
Nimbus client developer Etan Kissling and champion of EIP-7688, Forward compatible consensus data structures, shared an update to his proposal, which had been CFI’d for Glamsterdam on a prior call, and requested feedback on it, if any.
Prysm client developer “Potuz” proposed a change to the Engine API to detect censoring behavior by third-party block builders. Potuz said that, as a change impacting both the CL and EL, he will resurface the proposal on next week’s ACD call.
Hegota
EF Protocol Coordination Co-Team Lead and Chair of the ACDC Calls, Alex Stokes, announced that the headliner process for the Ethereum upgrade after Glamsterdam, called Hegota, will formally kick off today.
Ethereum stakeholders have until February 5 to propose major features for the Hegota fork. Headliner submissions must be posted to Ethereum Magicians and presented on an ACD call.
EF Geth Client Developer Marius Van Der Wijden asked about CL hardening efforts and the extent to which these should be prioritized for Hegota.
Developers also discussed concerns about testing enshrined proposer-builder separation (ePBS), a CL-focused headliner feature in the Glamsterdam fork.
🌕 That’s all for my summary of ACDC #172. Continue reading for pointed takeaways from the call, featuring direct quotes and additional context on key topics. To read the rest of the newsletter, make sure you are signed up for a premium subscription:
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(Quotes featured in this section may be edited for grammar and clarity. For more information on the people quoted in this section, refer to the ACD Call Directory in the ACD Toolkit.)
My pet peeve
One of my pet peeves is when people ask me questions they have already determined the answer to.
“What would you like for dinner, Christine? Ramen or soup?”
“Soup, please.”
“We haven’t had ramen in ages. Let’s do ramen.”
“Are you okay with sitting here, Christine?”
“Yes.”
“You must not be. You should sit over there.”
In these kinds of scenarios, I feel dejected, because what I thought was a genuine question turned out to be a disingenuous one, masking feelings and intentions that the other person did not feel comfortable stating outright.
Sometimes, when I know my answers don’t matter, I simply won’t respond, or I’ll say very little.
I couldn’t help but relate to the CL developers on today’s ACDC call, who simply didn’t respond to the topic of CL hardening that Marius raised near the end of the call.
