EIP-3382: Hardcoded Block Gas Limit


  Ethereum Improvement Proposals
        
        
          
            
              
            
          
        

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      Standards Track: Core
    
  
  
    
      EIP-3382: Hardcoded Block Gas Limit
    
    
      
        
      
    
    
      
        
      
    
  

  

  	Authors	Philippe Castonguay (@PhABC)
	Created	2021-03-13
	Discussion Link	https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/eip-3382-hardcoded-gas-limit


  


  

  
    Table of Contents

    	Simple Summary
	Abstract
	Motivation
	Specification
    	Added Consensus Constraint


  
	Rationale
    	Keeping gasLimit in Block Headers
	Chosen Gas Limit


  
	Backwards Compatibility
	Security Considerations
	Copyright



  


  
      
      
         Simple Summary
      
      
    


Hardcode the block gas limit to 12,500,000 gas per block.

  
    
      
      
         Abstract
      
      
    


Updates the block validation rules such that a block is invalid if the gas_limit header field is not equal to 12,500,000.

  
    
      
      
         Motivation
      
      
    


Both Ethereum’s Proof of Work and Proof of Stake designs assume that block producers are financially rational, but does not assume block producers to be benevolent. There is one exception however, and it is when block producers choose the gas limit of a block where it is assumed that block producers care about the long term health and decentralisation of the chain. Indeed, the block gas limit is one of the only parameters in Ethereum that is not dictated by node consensus, but instead is chosen by block producers. This decision was initially made to allow urgent changes in the block gas limit if necessary. Both drastically increasing or decreasing this parameter could have serious consequences that may not be desired. It is therefore a critical parameter that should require node consensus to avoid any sudden harmful change imposed by a small number of actors on the rest of the network.

  
    
      
      
         Specification
      
      
    

Refer to gasLimit as gasTarget post EIP-1559.

  
    
      
      
         Added Consensus Constraint
      
      
    


As of FORK_BLOCK_NUMBER, the header.gasLimit MUST be equal to BLOCK_GAS_LIMIT, where BLOCK_GAS_LIMIT is a hardcoded constant set to 12,500,000.

  
    
      
      
         Rationale
      
      
    

  
    
      
      
         Keeping gasLimit in Block Headers
      
      
    


While it would be possible to remove the gasLimit field from block headers, it would change the data structure to be hashed, which could lead to unintended consequences. It is therefore easier to leave the gasLimit as part of block headers.

  
    
      
      
         Chosen Gas Limit
      
      
    


The 12,500,000 value is being proposed as it’s the current block gas limit as of time of writing this EIP. The actual amount could be altered with a subsequent EIP to avoid deviating from the core intent of this EIP.

  
    
      
      
         Backwards Compatibility
      
      
    


This EIP is backward compatible.

  
    
      
      
         Security Considerations
      
      
    

Rapid changes to the gas limit will likely be more difficult to execute, which could be problematic if an urgent situation arise that required changing the gas limit.

  
    
      
      
         Copyright
      
      
    


Copyright and related rights waived via CC0.


  Citation

  Please cite this document as:

  
  Philippe Castonguay (@PhABC), "EIP-3382: Hardcoded Block Gas Limit [DRAFT]," Ethereum Improvement Proposals, no. 3382, March 2021. [Online serial]. Available: https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-3382.






      
    
  

  

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