[NEED INVESTIGATION] Incorrect param validation for debug_traceTransaction

[quiet-node]

Description

The current implementation of debug_traceTransaction has incorrect parameter validation and requires custom parameter arrangement in the arrangeRpcParams() method. This creates unnecessary complexity and deviates from industry standards.

Current implementation issues

• Second parameter validation accepts either a string or object, rather than only an object
• Special-case handling in arrangeRpcParams() method for traceTransaction
• Validation logic expects three parameters when the method should have two
• Needs Investigation – The onlyTopCall option in tracerConfig doesn’t appear to work correctly with callTracer. This is a preliminary observation and requires further investigation to confirm and understand the issue.

Expected behavior

• Parameter validation should align with industry standards (Alchemy, Quicknode, Infura)
• Second parameter should be an object with standardized fields:
  • tracer
  • tracerConfig (containing onlyTopCall)
• Fix would eliminate need for custom parameter arrangement in arrangeRpcParams()
• Standardized approach would allow method parameters to be normalized without special cases

Params Discrepancy

• For the second parameter, other providers like Infura, QuickNode, Alchemy, etc., appear to support two options for tracer: callTracer and prestateTracer. However, the current implementation of debug_traceTransaction only supports callTracer and opcodeLogger, with no support for prestateTracer. Further investigation is needed to determine the reason for this discrepancy.

Benefits

• Improved code maintainability
• Consistent interface with other RPC providers
• Simplified parameter handling logic

References

• https://docs.alchemy.com/reference/debug-tracetransaction
• https://docs.metamask.io/services/reference/mantle/json-rpc-methods/debug/debug_tracetransaction/
• https://www.quicknode.com/docs/ethereum/debug_traceTransaction

[quiet-node]

Also there is no acceptance tests for debug_traceTransaction API

[acuarica]

Parameter validation should align with industry standards (Alchemy, Quicknode, Infura)

In addition to this, we should also align with execution clients themselves to understand the landscape. Ideally, we would want to compare the signature against Geth https://geth.ethereum.org/docs/interacting-with-geth/rpc/ns-debug#debugtracetransaction and Besu just to name a few.