The Shapella fork has successfully been activated on the Goerli testnet at epoch 162304, occurring at 10:25:36 PM UTC on March 14, 2023. This is the third public testing of the Shapella fork, following its earlier tests on the Zhejiang and Sepolia testnets. The Goerli testnet was the first proof-of-authority cross-client testnet, enabling synchronization between Geth, Nethermind, Hyperledger Besu, and others. The testnet was later merged with the Prater proof-of-stake beacon chain. In this article, we will explore the main findings and potential issues uncovered during the Shapella testing on the Goerli testnet.

• Insights
• EIPs
• Client Releases
• Bugs
• Future Scope

Insights

This is anticipated to be the final testnet upgrade before the Shapella implementation is scheduled for the Ethereum mainnet. We are delighted to share that it has demonstrated outstanding performance across all client combinations.

Source: Beaconchain Explorer

EIPs

One of the primary goals of the testnet is to test all of the Shanghai EIPs, which include:

• EIP-3651: Warm COINBASE
• EIP-3855: PUSH0 instruction
• EIP-3860: Limit and meter initcode
• EIP-4895: Beacon chain push withdrawals as operations
• EIP-6049: Deprecate SELFDESTRUCT

All the changes to the consensus layer for the Capella upgrade are specified in the latest CL Release. This release provides a comprehensive overview of all the changes being made to the network and outlines the specifications for how they will be implemented.

Client Releases

The following client releases listed below are used in testing of Shapella Fork on Sepolia Testnet.

Consensus Layer Releases

Execution Layer Releases

Bugs

The finalization of the Goerli Testnet experienced a delay as users either forgot to upgrade or encountered issues with their setups. Consequently, network participation fell below the required two-thirds threshold. However, 15 epochs later, the Goerli Testnet successfully finalized. Importantly, no issues were identified with the client software itself.

Additionally, the Goerli Testnet has encountered DOS issues, which are unrelated to the Shapella upgrade.

On Friday we saw a DOS issue related to the @go_ethereum transaction pool on the goerli testnet.

The issue was first reported at 8:40 UTC by @jcksie & Jakub from Status on the ETH R&D discord and subsequently confirmed by @parithosh_j from EF devops.

Thread: pic.twitter.com/uuPVJT5XKN

— MariusVanDerWijden (@vdWijden) March 13, 2023

Future Scope

The Goerli Testnet continues to offer crucial insights into the upcoming Shapella upgrade, and Ethereum developers are now shifting their attention to the next stage. Their primary focus will be transitioning Shapella to the mainnet. During the recent All Core Devs Call, Ethereum developers revealed that the Shapella Fork on the mainnet is scheduled to occur at epoch 6209536 on April 12, 2023, at 10:27:35 PM UTC.

Related Articles

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• Zhejiang Public Testnet is Finalizing
• Sepolia Shapella Finalized
• Shapella Undergoes Mainnet Shadow Fork 2
• Why Ethereum Clients prefer SSZ over RLP?
• Upcoming Changes to Ethereum Blockchain
• How Warm COINBASE helps in Gas Cost Reduction?
• Activating ETH Withdrawal with Shanghai-Capella
• Transient Storage for Beginners: EIP-1153 Explained
• How Layer 3 in Future will look like?
• An Overview of Beacon Chain API

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