Lighthouse v2.5.0

Summary

This medium-priority release contains a fix for mainnet users experiencing slow "eth1 cache" syncing times (several hours or more). A synced eth1 cache is required for reliable block production.

For Prater/Goerli users, this release contains several new features and bug fixes. The developers kindly request that all Prater/Goerli users update to this release before the Bellatrix upgrade (2022-08-04 12:24 pm UTC). This release is very close to what will be used for the mainnet merge (presently unscheduled). This release should get as much testing as possible during the Prater/Goerli upgrade. Any Prater/Goerli users on v2.3.1 must upgrade to this release before the Bellatrix upgrade or they will follow the wrong chain.

Improvements and fixes include:

• Add execution_optimistic flag to HTTP responses (#3070, #3374)
• Fix slow eth1 cache syncing times (#3358)
• Full support for builder specs v0.2.0 (i.e. mev-boost support) (#3134)
• Retrospective verification of optimistically-synced merge transition blocks (#3372)
• Improve peer management when the EL is offline (#3384)

Breaking Changes

Breaking Change: Database Migrations

There are two database migrations in this release; v10 (#3322) and v11 (#3371).

Older database versions will automatically upgrade to the latest version without user intervention.

Downgrading requires the user to use the lighthouse db tool. See the Database Migrations documentation for detailed instructions.

Breaking Change: Addition of execution_optimistic flag to HTTP API

The execution_optimistic flag has been added alongside the data field on some (but not all) HTTP API responses as per v2.3.0 of the standard Beacon API.

It is unclear if adding a field at this section of the API is truly a breaking change or not, however we list it here for completeness.

Example:

// Lighthouse v2.4.0
{ "data": "object" }

// Lighthouse v2.5.0
{ "data": "object", "execution_optimistic": "boolean" }

Reminder: CLI changes in v2.4.0

The previous release (v2.4.0) contained several changes to CLI flags relating to the merge. Whilst we expect these changes to be largely inconsequential, users on a pre-v2.4.0 release should read the v2.4.0 release notes to understand these changes.

Update Priority

This table provides priorities for which classes of users should update particular components.

User Class	Beacon Node	Validator Client
Staking Users	Medium Priority	Low Priority
Non-Staking Users	Low Priority	–-

The Beacon Node may be updated without the Validator Client, however we recommend updating both components.

See Update Priorities for more information about this table.

All Changes

• v2.5.0 (#3392)
• Indicate that invalid blocks are optimistic (#3383)
• Enable count-unrealized by default (#3389)
• Fix penalties in sync methods (#3384)
• Initial Commit of Retrospective OTB Verification (#3372)
• Builder Specs v0.2.0 (#3134)
• Don't return errors when fork choice fails (#3370)
• Remove equivocating validators from fork choice (#3371)
• Downgrade Geth to v1.10.20 in EE integration tests (#3382)
• Fix antithesis docker builds (#3380)
• Allow setting web3signer version through environment (#3368)
• Return ResourceUnavailable if we are unable to reconstruct execution payloads (#3365)
• Allow syncing or accepted in integration test (#3378)
• Reformat tables and add borders (#3377)
• Fix some typos (#3376)
• Refuse to sign sync committee messages when head is optimistic (#3191)
• Add is_optimistic to eth/v1/node/syncing response (#3374)
• Strict fee recipient (#3363)
• Add merge transition docs (#3361)
• Fix Block Cache Range Math for Faster Syncing (#3358)
• Realized unrealized experimentation (#3322)
• Add execution_optimistic flag to HTTP responses (#3070)