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Bellatrix -- Honest Validator

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

Table of contents

Introduction

This document represents the changes to be made in the code of an "honest validator" to implement executable beacon chain proposal.

Prerequisites

This document is an extension of the Altair -- Honest Validator guide. All behaviors and definitions defined in this document, and documents it extends, carry over unless explicitly noted or overridden.

All terminology, constants, functions, and protocol mechanics defined in the updated Beacon Chain doc of Bellatrix are requisite for this document and used throughout. Please see related Beacon Chain doc before continuing and use them as a reference throughout.

Helpers

get_pow_block_at_terminal_total_difficulty

def get_pow_block_at_terminal_total_difficulty(pow_chain: Dict[Hash32, PowBlock]) -> Optional[PowBlock]:
    # `pow_chain` abstractly represents all blocks in the PoW chain
    for block in pow_chain.values():
        block_reached_ttd = block.total_difficulty >= TERMINAL_TOTAL_DIFFICULTY
        if block_reached_ttd:
            # If genesis block, no parent exists so reaching TTD alone qualifies as valid terminal block
            if block.parent_hash == Hash32():
                return block
            parent = pow_chain[block.parent_hash]
            parent_reached_ttd = parent.total_difficulty >= TERMINAL_TOTAL_DIFFICULTY
            if not parent_reached_ttd:
                return block

    return None

get_terminal_pow_block

def get_terminal_pow_block(pow_chain: Dict[Hash32, PowBlock]) -> Optional[PowBlock]:
    if TERMINAL_BLOCK_HASH != Hash32():
        # Terminal block hash override takes precedence over terminal total difficulty
        if TERMINAL_BLOCK_HASH in pow_chain:
            return pow_chain[TERMINAL_BLOCK_HASH]
        else:
            return None

    return get_pow_block_at_terminal_total_difficulty(pow_chain)

Note: This function does not use simple serialize hash_tree_root as to avoid requiring simple serialize hashing capabilities in the Execution Layer.

Protocols

ExecutionEngine

Note: get_payload function is added to the ExecutionEngine protocol for use as a validator.

The body of this function is implementation dependent. The Engine API may be used to implement it with an external execution engine.

get_payload

Given the payload_id, get_payload returns the most recent version of the execution payload that has been built since the corresponding call to notify_forkchoice_updated method.

def get_payload(self: ExecutionEngine, payload_id: PayloadId) -> ExecutionPayload:
    """
    Return ``execution_payload`` object.
    """
    ...

Beacon chain responsibilities

All validator responsibilities remain unchanged other than those noted below. Namely, the transition block handling and the addition of ExecutionPayload.

Note: A validator must not propose on or attest to a block that isn't deemed valid, i.e. hasn't yet passed the beacon chain state transition and execution validations. In future upgrades, an "execution Proof-of-Custody" will be integrated to prevent outsourcing of execution payload validations.

Block proposal

Constructing the BeaconBlockBody

ExecutionPayload

To obtain an execution payload, a block proposer building a block on top of a state must take the following actions:

  1. Set payload_id = prepare_execution_payload(state, pow_chain, finalized_block_hash, safe_block_hash, suggested_fee_recipient, execution_engine), where:
    • state is the state object after applying process_slots(state, slot) transition to the resulting state of the parent block processing
    • pow_chain is a Dict[Hash32, PowBlock] dictionary that abstractly represents all blocks in the PoW chain with block hash as the dictionary key
    • safe_block_hash is the return value of the get_safe_execution_payload_hash(store: Store) function call
    • finalized_block_hash is the hash of the latest finalized execution payload (Hash32() if none yet finalized)
    • suggested_fee_recipient is the value suggested to be used for the fee_recipient field of the execution payload
def prepare_execution_payload(state: BeaconState,
                              pow_chain: Dict[Hash32, PowBlock],
                              safe_block_hash: Hash32,
                              finalized_block_hash: Hash32,
                              suggested_fee_recipient: ExecutionAddress,
                              execution_engine: ExecutionEngine) -> Optional[PayloadId]:
    if not is_merge_transition_complete(state):
        is_terminal_block_hash_set = TERMINAL_BLOCK_HASH != Hash32()
        is_activation_epoch_reached = get_current_epoch(state) >= TERMINAL_BLOCK_HASH_ACTIVATION_EPOCH
        if is_terminal_block_hash_set and not is_activation_epoch_reached:
            # Terminal block hash is set but activation epoch is not yet reached, no prepare payload call is needed
            return None

        terminal_pow_block = get_terminal_pow_block(pow_chain)
        if terminal_pow_block is None:
            # Pre-merge, no prepare payload call is needed
            return None
        # Signify merge via producing on top of the terminal PoW block
        parent_hash = terminal_pow_block.block_hash
    else:
        # Post-merge, normal payload
        parent_hash = state.latest_execution_payload_header.block_hash

    # Set the forkchoice head and initiate the payload build process
    payload_attributes = PayloadAttributes(
        timestamp=compute_timestamp_at_slot(state, state.slot),
        prev_randao=get_randao_mix(state, get_current_epoch(state)),
        suggested_fee_recipient=suggested_fee_recipient,
    )
    return execution_engine.notify_forkchoice_updated(
        head_block_hash=parent_hash,
        safe_block_hash=safe_block_hash,
        finalized_block_hash=finalized_block_hash,
        payload_attributes=payload_attributes,
    )
  1. Set block.body.execution_payload = get_execution_payload(payload_id, execution_engine), where:
def get_execution_payload(payload_id: Optional[PayloadId], execution_engine: ExecutionEngine) -> ExecutionPayload:
    if payload_id is None:
        # Pre-merge, empty payload
        return ExecutionPayload()
    else:
        return execution_engine.get_payload(payload_id)

Note: It is recommended for a validator to call prepare_execution_payload as soon as input parameters become known, and make subsequent calls to this function when any of these parameters gets updated.