Ethereum developers released a last-minute software update for Prysm, a major validator client, to ensure the upcoming Glamsterdam test on Sepolia proceeds as intended. The update addresses a configuration issue that could have caused some validators to produce blocks at Sepolia's previous 60 million gas limit instead of the test's target of 200 million gas.
Glamsterdam is Ethereum's next major upgrade, first being tested on Sepolia, a test network using tokens with no real value. The Sepolia test, scheduled for October 6 at 13:53:36 UTC, will raise the network's gas limit more than threefold. Gas is the unit Ethereum uses to measure the computing work that fits into a block.
Prysm version 7.2.1 was released late Monday with the 200 million gas setting built in. The previous release, completed before this setting was finalized in Sepolia's configuration, would have left validators at the 60 million limit without manual operator intervention. Validators running the updated version will automatically propose 200 million-gas blocks when Glamsterdam activates on Sepolia.
The test aims to assess whether validators can reliably handle blocks more than three times larger than Sepolia's previous default before developers determine an appropriate capacity for Ethereum's main network. Blocks proposed at the old limit would have diluted the test results.
Ethereum has been raising block capacity in stages to test how far it can scale before operating a validator becomes too demanding or expensive. The 200 million gas setting applies only to Sepolia; Glamsterdam has not yet activated on Ethereum's main network.
