Eth2.0 Call 34

Eth2.0 Call 34

https://github.com/ethereum/eth2.0-pm/issues/129

Nimbus team (3 weeks)

- Core spec:
  - Autodetect/Report on skipped tests (that were deactivating during implementation/refactoring)
  - BLS signatures ready, we were waiting for EF vectors fixes but will go ahead to allow finishing honest validators spec
  - WIP attestation aggregation
  - WIP fork choice
  - Bounty program restarted, 1st bounties:
	  - improved test runners
	  - HTTPS server
  
- Networking
  - Merged peer lifetime code
  - significant focus on discovery
	  - some issue on Windows
	  - and maybe NAT traversal
	  - manifest as finalization issue
  - libp2p: excellent progress on Noise
      looking for interop candidates
      (with native libp2p)
	  
- Speed:
  - Lightweight stack traces: x2 speed at minimum
  - when high number of nodes per CPU core -> not finalizing  

- Devops
  - Fixes on testnet deployments to avoid unreset nodes 
  - Nightly finalization testing infra through jenkins ready on our own hardware
  
- Eth1:
  - EVMC host implementation done
    - Enable fuzzing our Eth1 implementation with evmone/aleth tools
    - How to switch VM like evmone into Nimbus
  - passing all transactions tests

- Bottlenecks:
  - Discovery to connect to other testnets
  - log volume (~80 MB / hour of compressed logs)
    - need some verbosity for debug
    - need a parser if we deal with thousands of nodes.
    -> solution at the moment, rotating every 4 hours

——————————————

Testing and release updates

- a bit behind (EthDenver)
- target next few days

Alex (TXRX) started porting fork choice tests from Java to pyspecs
Huge refactoring of tests, PR up

Proto: networking,
(?)
change in Snappy compression scheme
networking call next week


beaconfuzz: fixed merle proofs in Nimbus
only thing remaining process_randao and process_eth1_data
Issue with integrating prysm due to namespace conflict with Nimbus go dependency

——————————————
Client updates

Teku (Meredith)
Sync, can connect to and download blocks from Prysm
Deposits
Discovery v5 from Harmony
Can discover nodes from Lighthouse
REST API for Block Explorer
Keystore
standalone signing service for managing keys
Bottlenecks:
  - storage
  - state snapshots
    - proposal from proto: cold storage finalised state and for hot storage, differential merkle trees
    
Trinity
- spec updates
- stability of libp2p
- integration with Milagro

Nimbus updates
Q: on logs
Q: on BLS

Carl: BLS change should be the final one

Prysm
Working on slashing server: double votes, surround votes
Working on verifying slashed validator ejection
Dynamic attestation subnet subtraction
How to use less memory during initial syncing
(?)
Bottlenecks:
  - currently subscribe to all subnets
  - tons of unaggregated signatures to very
  - 30% is verifying unaggregated signatures
  
Nethermind
libp2p wrapped and integrated in Nethermind
Can now gossip blocks (no attestation at the moment)
Will target 10.1 to benefit from signing_root changes.

Lighthouse
2 new developers
4k validators testnet at EthDenver 93k slots
Merkle Tree based storage system
reduction in hashing team bu penalty in (?)
dealing with heap allocation
reduction by half again
2~4GB or RAM on 100k validator testnet
30% improv of block processing time
compile-time switch to use either Milagro or MCL
Preping for Lighthouse 0.2.0
Research: UI frontend for validator clients
Q: Bottlenecks
- RAM
- fixed most (all?) deadlocks
Q: detection of chain reorg

Lodestar
Merged Herumi BLS
State transition updates
SSZ changes (faster on PoC benches, memoization, …)
Improving state management (checkpoint old state and share memory between recent states)
Bottleneck:
- Discv5


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Research updates
TXRX

EthDenver: made an EE called SimplEE (spelling?)

Proto: Draft phase 2 spec, PR open

Quilt (Ansgar Dietrichs)
Week at SBC (San Francisco Blockchain ?)
No blocker left for phase 2, still huge design space
—> minimum implementation
—> focus now: MVP
Dynamic state access: probable solution SSA (?)

——————————————
Networking call next wednesday

Get together in Paris
EthLondon soon