internal/ethapi: skip tx gas limit check for calls

[fjl]

This disables the tx gaslimit cap for eth_call and related RPC operations.

I don't like how this fix works. Ideally we'd be checking the tx gaslimit somewhere else, like in the block validator, or any other place that considers block transactions. Doing the check in StateTransition means it affects all possible ways of executing a message.

The challenge is finding a place for this check that also triggers correctly in tests where it is wanted.

[fjl]

Related to this, I wonder if we need to add special logic to estimateGas for capping the gas to the protocol-defined limit.

[MariusVanDerWijden]

It looks like the SkipFromEOA check is always true if the message comes from the api, so we could do something like this

diff --git a/eth/tracers/api.go b/eth/tracers/api.go
index b50a532b60..a05b7a7a4a 100644
--- a/eth/tracers/api.go
+++ b/eth/tracers/api.go
@@ -984,7 +984,7 @@ func (api *API) TraceCall(ctx context.Context, args ethapi.TransactionArgs, bloc
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	var (
-		msg         = args.ToMessage(blockContext.BaseFee, true, true)
+		msg         = args.ToMessage(blockContext.BaseFee, true)
 		tx          = args.ToTransaction(types.LegacyTxType)
 		traceConfig *TraceConfig
 	)
diff --git a/internal/ethapi/api.go b/internal/ethapi/api.go
index 554f525290..ebb8ece730 100644
--- a/internal/ethapi/api.go
+++ b/internal/ethapi/api.go
@@ -699,15 +699,15 @@ func doCall(ctx context.Context, b Backend, args TransactionArgs, state *state.S
 	} else {
 		gp.AddGas(globalGasCap)
 	}
-	return applyMessage(ctx, b, args, state, header, timeout, gp, &blockCtx, &vm.Config{NoBaseFee: true}, precompiles, true)
+	return applyMessage(ctx, b, args, state, header, timeout, gp, &blockCtx, &vm.Config{NoBaseFee: true}, precompiles)
 }
 
-func applyMessage(ctx context.Context, b Backend, args TransactionArgs, state *state.StateDB, header *types.Header, timeout time.Duration, gp *core.GasPool, blockContext *vm.BlockContext, vmConfig *vm.Config, precompiles vm.PrecompiledContracts, skipChecks bool) (*core.ExecutionResult, error) {
+func applyMessage(ctx context.Context, b Backend, args TransactionArgs, state *state.StateDB, header *types.Header, timeout time.Duration, gp *core.GasPool, blockContext *vm.BlockContext, vmConfig *vm.Config, precompiles vm.PrecompiledContracts) (*core.ExecutionResult, error) {
 	// Get a new instance of the EVM.
 	if err := args.CallDefaults(gp.Gas(), blockContext.BaseFee, b.ChainConfig().ChainID); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	msg := args.ToMessage(header.BaseFee, skipChecks, skipChecks)
+	msg := args.ToMessage(header.BaseFee, true)
 	// Lower the basefee to 0 to avoid breaking EVM
 	// invariants (basefee < feecap).
 	if msg.GasPrice.Sign() == 0 {
@@ -858,7 +858,7 @@ func DoEstimateGas(ctx context.Context, b Backend, args TransactionArgs, blockNr
 	if err := args.CallDefaults(gasCap, header.BaseFee, b.ChainConfig().ChainID); err != nil {
 		return 0, err
 	}
-	call := args.ToMessage(header.BaseFee, true, true)
+	call := args.ToMessage(header.BaseFee, true)
 
 	// Run the gas estimation and wrap any revertals into a custom return
 	estimate, revert, err := gasestimator.Estimate(ctx, call, opts, gasCap)
@@ -1301,7 +1301,7 @@ func AccessList(ctx context.Context, b Backend, blockNrOrHash rpc.BlockNumberOrH
 		statedb := db.Copy()
 		// Set the accesslist to the last al
 		args.AccessList = &accessList
-		msg := args.ToMessage(header.BaseFee, true, true)
+		msg := args.ToMessage(header.BaseFee, true)
 
 		// Apply the transaction with the access list tracer
 		tracer := logger.NewAccessListTracer(accessList, addressesToExclude)
diff --git a/internal/ethapi/simulate.go b/internal/ethapi/simulate.go
index 362536bcb5..e26e5bd0e9 100644
--- a/internal/ethapi/simulate.go
+++ b/internal/ethapi/simulate.go
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ func (sim *simulator) processBlock(ctx context.Context, block *simBlock, header,
 		tracer.reset(txHash, uint(i))
 		sim.state.SetTxContext(txHash, i)
 		// EoA check is always skipped, even in validation mode.
-		msg := call.ToMessage(header.BaseFee, !sim.validate, true)
+		msg := call.ToMessage(header.BaseFee, !sim.validate)
 		result, err := applyMessageWithEVM(ctx, evm, msg, timeout, sim.gp)
 		if err != nil {
 			txErr := txValidationError(err)
diff --git a/internal/ethapi/transaction_args.go b/internal/ethapi/transaction_args.go
index f80ef6d080..80938ac955 100644
--- a/internal/ethapi/transaction_args.go
+++ b/internal/ethapi/transaction_args.go
@@ -443,7 +443,7 @@ func (args *TransactionArgs) CallDefaults(globalGasCap uint64, baseFee *big.Int,
 // core evm. This method is used in calls and traces that do not require a real
 // live transaction.
 // Assumes that fields are not nil, i.e. setDefaults or CallDefaults has been called.
-func (args *TransactionArgs) ToMessage(baseFee *big.Int, skipNonceCheck, skipEoACheck bool) *core.Message {
+func (args *TransactionArgs) ToMessage(baseFee *big.Int, skipNonceCheck bool) *core.Message {
 	var (
 		gasPrice  *big.Int
 		gasFeeCap *big.Int
@@ -491,7 +491,7 @@ func (args *TransactionArgs) ToMessage(baseFee *big.Int, skipNonceCheck, skipEoA
 		BlobHashes:            args.BlobHashes,
 		SetCodeAuthorizations: args.AuthorizationList,
 		SkipNonceChecks:       skipNonceCheck,
-		SkipFromEOACheck:      skipEoACheck,
+		SkipFromEOACheck:      true,
 	}
 }

And then rename the SkipFromEOACheck to something like IsSimulatedCall.

[MariusVanDerWijden]

If we decide not to do that, the current code also SGTM

[fjl]

@MariusVanDerWijden I have applied your suggestion. Good observation that SkipFromEOACheck was always true.

[MariusVanDerWijden]

LGTM

[chubakka102]

TMapviun973wuRMASRofEDB1NbyJmoc7v2

[chubakka102]

Pull request

TMapviun973wuRMASRofEDB1NbyJmoc7v2

[Cplus360]

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