eth2.0-specs/specs/merge/fork.md

# Ethereum 2.0 The Merge

**Notice**: This document is a work-in-progress for researchers and implementers.

## Table of contents

<!-- START doctoc generated TOC please keep comment here to allow auto update -->
<!-- DON'T EDIT THIS SECTION, INSTEAD RE-RUN doctoc TO UPDATE -->

- [Introduction](#introduction)
- [Configuration](#configuration)
- [Fork to Merge](#fork-to-merge)
  - [Fork trigger](#fork-trigger)
  - [Upgrading the state](#upgrading-the-state)
  - [Initializing transition store](#initializing-transition-store)

<!-- END doctoc generated TOC please keep comment here to allow auto update -->

## Introduction

This document describes the process of the Merge upgrade.

## Configuration

Warning: this configuration is not definitive.

| Name | Value |
| - | - |
| `MERGE_FORK_VERSION` | `Version('0x02000000')` |
| `MERGE_FORK_EPOCH` | `Epoch(18446744073709551615)` **TBD** |

## Fork to Merge

### Fork trigger

TBD. Social consensus, along with state conditions such as epoch boundary, finality, deposits, active validator count, etc. may be part of the decision process to trigger the fork. For now we assume the condition will be triggered at epoch `MERGE_FORK_EPOCH`.

Note that for the pure Merge networks, we don't apply `upgrade_to_merge` since it starts with Merge version logic.

### Upgrading the state

If `state.slot % SLOTS_PER_EPOCH == 0` and `compute_epoch_at_slot(state.slot) == MERGE_FORK_EPOCH`, an irregular state change is made to upgrade to Merge.

The upgrade occurs after the completion of the inner loop of `process_slots` that sets `state.slot` equal to `MERGE_FORK_EPOCH * SLOTS_PER_EPOCH`.
Care must be taken when transitioning through the fork boundary as implementations will need a modified [state transition function](../phase0/beacon-chain.md#beacon-chain-state-transition-function) that deviates from the Phase 0 document.
In particular, the outer `state_transition` function defined in the Phase 0 document will not expose the precise fork slot to execute the upgrade in the presence of skipped slots at the fork boundary. Instead the logic must be within `process_slots`.

```python
def upgrade_to_merge(pre: phase0.BeaconState) -> BeaconState:
    epoch = phase0.get_current_epoch(pre)
    post = BeaconState(
        # Versioning
        genesis_time=pre.genesis_time,
        genesis_validators_root=pre.genesis_validators_root,
        slot=pre.slot,
        fork=Fork(
            previous_version=pre.fork.current_version,
            current_version=MERGE_FORK_VERSION,
            epoch=epoch,
        ),
        # History
        latest_block_header=pre.latest_block_header,
        block_roots=pre.block_roots,
        state_roots=pre.state_roots,
        historical_roots=pre.historical_roots,
        # Eth1
        eth1_data=pre.eth1_data,
        eth1_data_votes=pre.eth1_data_votes,
        eth1_deposit_index=pre.eth1_deposit_index,
        # Registry
        validators=pre.validators,
        balances=pre.balances,
        # Randomness
        randao_mixes=pre.randao_mixes,
        # Slashings
        slashings=pre.slashings,
        # Attestations
        previous_epoch_attestations=pre.previous_epoch_attestations,
        current_epoch_attestations=pre.current_epoch_attestations,
        # Finality
        justification_bits=pre.justification_bits,
        previous_justified_checkpoint=pre.previous_justified_checkpoint,
        current_justified_checkpoint=pre.current_justified_checkpoint,
        finalized_checkpoint=pre.finalized_checkpoint,
        # Execution-layer
        latest_execution_payload_header=ExecutionPayloadHeader(),
    )
    
    return post
```

### Initializing transition store

If `state.slot % SLOTS_PER_EPOCH == 0` and `compute_epoch_at_slot(state.slot) == MERGE_FORK_EPOCH`, a transition store is initialized to be further utilized by the transition process of the Merge.

Transition store initialization occurs after the state has been modified by corresponding `upgrade_to_merge` function.

```python
def get_transition_store(anchor_pow_block: PowBlock) -> TransitionStore:
    transition_total_difficulty = anchor_pow_block.total_difficulty + TRANSITION_TOTAL_DIFFICULTY_OFFSET
    return TransitionStore(transition_total_difficulty=transition_total_difficulty)

def initialize_transition_store(state: BeaconState) -> TransitionStore:
    pow_block = get_pow_block(state.eth1_data.block_hash)
    return get_transition_store(pow_block)
```