We have several modules that import `nim-eth` for the sole purpose of
its `keys.newRng` function. This function is meanwhile a simple wrapper
around `nim-bearssl`'s `HmacDrbgContext.new()`, so the import doesn't
really serve a use anymore. Replace `keys.newRng` with the direct call
to reduce `nim-eth` imports.
When doing sync for blocks older than
MIN_EPOCHS_FOR_BLOB_SIDECARS_REQUESTS, we skip the blobs by range
request, but we then pass en empty blob sequence to
validation, which then fails.
To fix this: Use an Option[Blobsidecars] to allow expressing the
distinction between "empty blob sequence" and "blobs unavailable". Use
the latter for "old" blocks, and don't attempt to run blob validation.
* Support for driving multiple EL nodes from a single Nimbus BN
Full list of changes:
* Eth1Monitor has been renamed to ELManager to match its current
responsibilities better.
* The ELManager is no longer optional in the code (it won't have
a nil value under any circumstances).
* The support for subscribing for headers was removed as it only
worked with WebSockets and contributed significant complexity
while bringing only a very minor advantage.
* The `--web3-url` parameter has been deprecated in favor of a
new `--el` parameter. The new parameter has a reasonable default
value and supports specifying a different JWT for each connection.
Each connection can also be configured with a different set of
responsibilities (e.g. download deposits, validate blocks and/or
produce blocks). On the command-line, these properties can be
configured through URL properties stored in the #anchor part of
the URL. In TOML files, they come with a very natural syntax
(althrough the URL scheme is also supported).
* The previously scattered EL-related state and logic is now moved
to `eth1_monitor.nim` (this module will be renamed to `el_manager.nim`
in a follow-up commit). State is assigned properly either to the
`ELManager` or the to individual `ELConnection` objects where
appropriate.
The ELManager executes all Engine API requests against all attached
EL nodes, in parallel. It compares their results and if there is a
disagreement regarding the validity of a certain payload, this is
detected and the beacon node is protected from publishing a block
with a potential execution layer consensus bug in it.
The BN provides metrics per EL node for the number of successful or
failed requests for each type Engine API requests. If an EL node
goes offline and connectivity is resoted later, we report the
problem and the remedy in edge-triggered fashion.
* More progress towards implementing Deneb block production in the VC
and comparing the value of blocks produced by the EL and the builder
API.
* Adds a Makefile target for the zhejiang testnet
This commit removes ForkySignedBeaconBlockMaybeBlobs and all
references. I tried to pull that thread only as little as was needed
to get rid of it. Left a placeholder BlobSidecar array (in lieu of
Opt[BlobsSidecar]) in a few places; this will be used as we rebuild
the decoupled implementation.
We currently use `BlockError` for both beacon blocks and LC objects.
In light of EIP4844, we will likely also use it for blob sidecars.
To avoid confusion, renaming it to a more generic `VerifierError`,
and update its documentation to be more generic.
To avoid long lines as a followup, also renaming the `block_processor`'s
`BlockProcessingCompleted.completed`->`ProcessingStatus.completed` and
`BlockProcessingCompleted.notCompleted`->`ProcessingStatus.notCompleted`
Since these files may have been created in a previous run or manually,
we want to keep loading them even on nodes that don't enable the
keystore API (for example static setups)
Other changes:
* log keystore loading progressively (#3699)
* print initial fee recipient when loading validators
* log dynamic fee recipient updates
* more efficient forkchoiceUpdated usage
* await rather than asyncSpawn; ensure head update before dag.updateHead
* use action tracker rather than attached validators to check for next slot proposal; use wall slot + 1 rather than state slot + 1 to correctly check when missing blocks
* re-add two-fcU case for when newPayload not VALID
* check dynamicFeeRecipientsStore for potential proposal
* remove duplicate checks for whether next proposer
* optimistic sync
* flag that initially loaded blocks from database might need execution block root filled in
* return optimistic status in REST calls
* refactor blockslot pruning
* ensure beacon_blocks_by_{root,range} do not provide optimistic blocks
* handle forkchoice head being pre-merge with block being postmerge
* re-enable blocking head updates on validator duties
* fix is_optimistic_candidate_block per spec; don't crash with nil future
* fix is_optimistic_candidate_block per spec; don't crash with nil future
* mark blocks sans execution payloads valid during head update
One more step on the journey to reduce `BlockRef` usage across the
codebase - this one gets rid of `StateData` whose job was to keep track
of which block was last assigned to a state - these duties have now been
taken over by `latest_block_root`, a fairly recent addition that
computes this block root from state data (at a small cost that should be
insignificant)
99% mechanical change.
* limit by-root requests to non-finalized blocks
Presently, we keep a mapping from block root to `BlockRef` in memory -
this has simplified reasoning about the dag, but is not sustainable with
the chain growing.
We can distinguish between two cases where by-root access is useful:
* unfinalized blocks - this is where the beacon chain is operating
generally, by validating incoming data as interesting for future fork
choice decisions - bounded by the length of the unfinalized period
* finalized blocks - historical access in the REST API etc - no bounds,
really
In this PR, we limit the by-root block index to the first use case:
finalized chain data can more efficiently be addressed by slot number.
Future work includes:
* limiting the `BlockRef` horizon in general - each instance is 40
bytes+overhead which adds up - this needs further refactoring to deal
with the tail vs state problem
* persisting the finalized slot-to-hash index - this one also keeps
growing unbounded (albeit slowly)
Anyway, this PR easily shaves ~128mb of memory usage at the time of
writing.
* No longer honor `BeaconBlocksByRoot` requests outside of the
non-finalized period - previously, Nimbus would generously return any
block through this libp2p request - per the spec, finalized blocks
should be fetched via `BeaconBlocksByRange` instead.
* return `Opt[BlockRef]` instead of `nil` when blocks can't be found -
this becomes a lot more common now and thus deserves more attention
* `dag.blocks` -> `dag.forkBlocks` - this index only carries unfinalized
blocks from now - `finalizedBlocks` covers the other `BlockRef`
instances
* in backfill, verify that the last backfilled block leads back to
genesis, or panic
* add backfill timings to log
* fix missing check that `BlockRef` block can be fetched with
`getForkedBlock` reliably
* shortcut doppelganger check when feature is not enabled
* in REST/JSON-RPC, fetch blocks without involving `BlockRef`
* fix dag.blocks ref
Time in the beacon chain is expressed relative to the genesis time -
this PR creates a `beacon_time` module that collects helpers and
utilities for dealing the time units - the new module does not deal with
actual wall time (that's remains in `beacon_clock`).
Collecting the time related stuff in one place makes it easier to find,
avoids some circular imports and allows more easily identifying the code
actually needs wall time to operate.
* move genesis-time-related functionality into `spec/beacon_time`
* avoid using `chronos.Duration` for time differences - it does not
support negative values (such as when something happens earlier than it
should)
* saturate conversions between `FAR_FUTURE_XXX`, so as to avoid
overflows
* fix delay reporting in validator client so it uses the expected
deadline of the slot, not "closest wall slot"
* simplify looping over the slots of an epoch
* `compute_start_slot_at_epoch` -> `start_slot`
* `compute_epoch_at_slot` -> `epoch`
A follow-up PR will (likely) introduce saturating arithmetic for the
time units - this is merely code moves, renames and fixing of small
bugs.
Validator monitoring based on and mostly compatible with the
implementation in Lighthouse - tracks additional logs and metrics for
specified validators so as to stay on top on performance.
The implementation works more or less the following way:
* Validator pubkeys are singled out for monitoring - these can be
running on the node or not
* For every action that the validator takes, we record steps in the
process such as messages being seen on the network or published in the
API
* When the dust settles at the end of an epoch, we report the
information from one epoch before that, which coincides with the
balances being updated - this is a tradeoff between being correct
(waiting for finalization) and providing relevant information in a
timely manner)
* move quarantine outside of chaindag
The quarantine has been part of the ChainDAG for the longest time, but
this design has a few issues:
* the function in which blocks are verified and added to the dag becomes
reentrant and therefore difficult to reason about - we're currently
using a stateful flag to work around it
* quarantined blocks bypass the processing queue leading to a processing
stampede
* the quarantine flow is unsuitable for orphaned attestations - these
should also should be quarantined eventually
Instead of processing the quarantine inside ChainDAG, this PR moves
re-queueing to `block_processor` which already is responsible for
dealing with follow-up work when a block is added to the dag
This sets the stage for keeping attestations in the quarantine as well.
Also:
* make `BlockError` `{.pure.}`
* avoid use of `ValidationResult` in block clearance (that's for gossip)