Ethereum developers have issued a new call for smart-contract teams and auditors to test eight gas assumptions that could break under the proposed Glamsterdam upgrade. The November 6 request expands the compatibility review that delayed Glamsterdam's Hoodi testnet activation in October. It asks projects to identify affected code, explain whether they can repair it and provide evidence that can inform the next All Core Developers discussion.

The review now reaches beyond protocol audits

The Ethereum Foundation said ChainSecurity and Dedaub are participating in audits alongside internal reviewers, but those teams cannot inspect every application and off-chain service built around Ethereum. Developers are therefore being asked to compare their systems with a public repository that lists eight invariants changed by EIP-8037 and EIP-8038. The repository includes warning signs, examples and suggested checks, while affected projects are directed to report problems privately so fixes can be developed before details are widely disclosed.

Related reporting: Ethereum Postpones Glamsterdam Upgrade on Hoodi Testnet

What the two proposals change

EIP-8037 would separate charges for creating state from ordinary execution gas through a state-gas reservoir, while EIP-8038 would reprice reads and writes to existing state. The goal is to make Ethereum's fees reflect the resources required to store and access a growing database as the network raises capacity. Those changes can alter long-standing assumptions about how much gas an operation needs, what remains after a failed call and whether gas measured inside a contract captures the full cost paid by the transaction.

Eight assumptions are under scrutiny

The published checklist covers fixed gas budgets, refunds after state is cleared, gas returned by reverting calls, failure handlers, relayer reimbursements and reserved gas for later operations. It also examines EIP-7702 delegations, where a signed authorization could remain reusable if execution runs out of gas before the delegation and related nonce update persist. The framework does not say every contract using these patterns is vulnerable. It gives teams a structured way to determine whether a specific implementation depends on behavior Glamsterdam would change.

Who needs to act

The immediate audience is contract developers, auditors, relayer operators, wallet teams and services that hard-code gas limits or infer transaction outcomes from remaining gas. The review also includes off-chain components that treat a mined transaction as proof that every intended state change succeeded. Ordinary ETH holders and mainnet users have no upgrade step to perform. Glamsterdam is still being tested, and the Foundation has not reported that the proposed rules are active on mainnet or being exploited there.

The Hoodi schedule remains open

All Core Developers previously postponed the Hoodi fork after compatibility concerns emerged around the gas changes. The latest notice says the hard-fork process will remain delayed until the issues are resolved, while work on the later Hegota upgrade continues in parallel. It does not provide a replacement Hoodi activation or a confirmed Glamsterdam mainnet date. That distinction matters because this is a pre-deployment review, not the reversal of a live network upgrade.

Project feedback could change the specification

Ethereum's repository says responses may lead developers to adjust EIP-8037 or EIP-8038, depending on how many projects are affected and whether repairs require a setting change, contract upgrade or migration. Reports are expected to identify the relevant invariant, affected code and a reproducible test when possible. The next meaningful milestone is therefore not a market deadline but evidence from application teams: which assumptions exist in production systems, how serious the consequences are and whether the upgrade can proceed safely with application fixes or needs protocol changes.

Sources

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