GasPriceLowerThanBaseFee errors on eth_call

[KaiRo-at]

• OpenEthereum version (>=3.1.0): 3.3.0-rc2
• Operating system: Linux
• Installation: docker
• Fully synchronized: yes
• Network: ropsten
• Restarted: yes

When doing eth_call on Ropsten, now that London is enabled, I always get a GasPriceLowerThanBaseFee error, see e.g. this direct JSON-RPC call via curl:

> curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_call","params":[{"to": "0x588Ca95d76c6a7ab121746bd209F2994B7Ba5F10", "data": "0x63a6344e"}, "latest"],"id":67}' http://localhost:8545
{"jsonrpc":"2.0","error":{"code":-32015,"message":"Transaction execution error.","data":"GasPriceLowerThanBaseFee { gas_price: 0, base_fee: 159911300881 }"},"id":67}

When I do this call on Infura instead, it works as expected:

> curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_call","params":[{"to": "0x588Ca95d76c6a7ab121746bd209F2994B7Ba5F10", "data": "0x63a6344e"}, "latest"],"id":67}' https://ropsten.infura.io/v3/...
{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":67,"result":"0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000"}

IIRC, this was discussed in the recent ACD call, and there seems to be a link for a discussion on the topic: ethereum/pm#330 (comment)

[dwhjames]

Related to this, trace_rawTransaction exhibits the same error:

GasPriceLowerThanBaseFee { gas_price: 1, base_fee: 491224310953 }

[salisbury-espinosa]

try to add "gasPrice"
request:

curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_call","params":[{"gasPrice":"0x10000", "to": "0x588Ca95d76c6a7ab121746bd209F2994B7Ba5F10", "data": "0x63a6344e"}, "latest"],"id":67}' http://localhost:8080

response:

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","result":"0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000","id":67}

[KaiRo-at]

try to add "gasPrice"

Of course that works as a workaround. But that's not what libraries do or should need to do. The curl example I put in the initial comment is just for illustration of the problem.

[yuga-cb]

FWIW, I am seeing that this can fail even if gas_price is set to something twice as large as the most recent base fee.

RPC call failed: {"code"=>-32015, "message"=>"Transaction execution error.", "data"=>"GasPriceLowerThanBaseFee { gas_price: 2935274, base_fee: 240650928267 }"}

[sunce86]

FWIW, I am seeing that this can fail even if gas_price is set to something twice as large as the most recent base fee.

RPC call failed: {"code"=>-32015, "message"=>"Transaction execution error.", "data"=>"GasPriceLowerThanBaseFee { gas_price: 2935274, base_fee: 240650928267 }"}

Sorry, I might be missing something, but how 2935274 is twice as large as 240650928267 ?

[sunce86]

Related to this, trace_rawTransaction exhibits the same error:

GasPriceLowerThanBaseFee { gas_price: 1, base_fee: 491224310953 }

Hi,
So, for trace_rawTransaction you can't omit to specify gas_price, and if you specify gas_price then it must be higher then current base_fee.
Please refer to explanation here: ethereum/go-ethereum#23027
In short words, for all RPC functions that work with execution of transactions, there are two options:

1. You don't specify gas prices => base fee is forced to zero therefore ignored
2. You specify gas prices => gas prices are validated against current base fee and it must be valid gas prices >= base fee

[yuga-cb]

FWIW, I am seeing that this can fail even if gas_price is set to something twice as large as the most recent base fee.
RPC call failed: {"code"=>-32015, "message"=>"Transaction execution error.", "data"=>"GasPriceLowerThanBaseFee { gas_price: 2935274, base_fee: 240650928267 }"}

Sorry, I might be missing something, but how 2935274 is twice as large as 240650928267 ?

For this call, we are setting gas_price equal to 2 * the base fee of the most recent block (1467637 * 2 = 2935274). The node seems to think that the base_fee is 240650928267. This could be because we are specifying a block_number in eth_call, and maybe the node is looking at the base_fee of that block_number rather than the most recent block. Regardless, this seems like a bug.

[sunce86]

FWIW, I am seeing that this can fail even if gas_price is set to something twice as large as the most recent base fee.
RPC call failed: {"code"=>-32015, "message"=>"Transaction execution error.", "data"=>"GasPriceLowerThanBaseFee { gas_price: 2935274, base_fee: 240650928267 }"}

Sorry, I might be missing something, but how 2935274 is twice as large as 240650928267 ?

For this call, we are setting gas_price equal to 2 * the base fee of the most recent block (1467637 * 2 = 2935274). The node seems to think that the base_fee is 240650928267. This could be because we are specifying a block_number in eth_call, and maybe the node is looking at the base_fee of that block_number rather than the most recent block. Regardless, this seems like a bug.

Yes, the node is always looking at the base fee of the specified block. That is expected.
Anyway, let's revise all this cases once we have the fix.

[sunce86]

FWIW, I am seeing that this can fail even if gas_price is set to something twice as large as the most recent base fee.

RPC call failed: {"code"=>-32015, "message"=>"Transaction execution error.", "data"=>"GasPriceLowerThanBaseFee { gas_price: 2935274, base_fee: 240650928267 }"}

Did you find time to check this issue with the newest release? Can we close this issue?

[KaiRo-at]

FWIW, my original issue is fixed with OpenEthereum 3.3.0-rc.3 which I have been using on both Ropsten and Görli since it was released.

[sunce86]

PR merged. Closed.