Different output in traces (hex vs decimals) between beta and master

[tomusdrw]

$ curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -sX POST --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"trace_transaction","params":["0xea1093d492a1dcb1bef708f771a99a96ff05dcab81ca76c31940300177fcf49f"],"id":74}' localhost:8545
{
"jsonrpc":"2.0",
"result":[{"action":{
"callType":"call","from":"0x39fa8c5f2793459d6622857e7d9fbb4bd91766d3","gas":"0x1a6d4","input":"0x","to":"0xc083e9947cf02b8ffc7d3090ae9aea72df98fd47","value":"0x56bc75e2d63100000"},"blockHash":"0x8e38b4dbf6b11fcc3b9dee84fb7986e29ca0a02cecd8977c161ff7333329681e","blockNumber":1000000,"result":{"gasUsed":"0x2034","output":"0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000"},
"subtraces":1,"traceAddress":[],"transactionHash":"0xea1093d492a1dcb1bef708f771a99a96ff05dcab81ca76c31940300177fcf49f","transactionPosition":0,"type":"call"},{"action":{"callType":"callcode","from":"0xc083e9947cf02b8ffc7d3090ae9aea72df98fd47","gas":"0x18c56","input":"0x","to":"0xc083e9947cf02b8ffc7d3090ae9aea72df98fd47","value":"0x56bc75e2d63100000"},"blockHash":"0x8e38b4dbf6b11fcc3b9dee84fb7986e29ca0a02cecd8977c161ff7333329681e","blockNumber":1000000,"result":{"gasUsed":"0x5a4","output":"0x"},"subtraces":0,"traceAddress":[0],"transactionHash":"0xea1093d492a1dcb1bef708f771a99a96ff05dcab81ca76c31940300177fcf49f","transactionPosition":0,"type":"call"}],
"id":74
}

while for 1.3.7 client

$ curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -sX POST --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"trace_transaction","params":["0xea1093d492a1dcb1bef708f771a99a96ff05dcab81ca76c31940300177fcf49f"],"id":74}' localhost:8545
{
"jsonrpc":"2.0",
"result":[{"action":{
"call":{"callType":{"call":[]},"from":"0x39fa8c5f2793459d6622857e7d9fbb4bd91766d3","gas":"0x01a6d4","input":"0x","to":"0xc083e9947cf02b8ffc7d3090ae9aea72df98fd47","value":"0x056bc75e2d63100000"}},"blockHash":"0x8e38b4dbf6b11fcc3b9dee84fb7986e29ca0a02cecd8977c161ff7333329681e","blockNumber":"0x0f4240","result":{"call":{"gasUsed":"0x2034","output":"0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000"}},
"subtraces":"0x01","traceAddress":[],"transactionHash":"0xea1093d492a1dcb1bef708f771a99a96ff05dcab81ca76c31940300177fcf49f","transactionPosition":"0x00"},{"action":{"call":{"callType":{"callcode":[]},"from":"0xc083e9947cf02b8ffc7d3090ae9aea72df98fd47","gas":"0x018c56","input":"0x","to":"0xc083e9947cf02b8ffc7d3090ae9aea72df98fd47","value":"0x056bc75e2d63100000"}},"blockHash":"0x8e38b4dbf6b11fcc3b9dee84fb7986e29ca0a02cecd8977c161ff7333329681e","blockNumber":"0x0f4240","result":{"call":{"gasUsed":"0x05a4","output":"0x"}},"subtraces":"0x00","traceAddress":["0x00"],"transactionHash":"0xea1093d492a1dcb1bef708f771a99a96ff05dcab81ca76c31940300177fcf49f","transactionPosition":"0x00"}],
"id":74
}

Question originally posted on Gitter by @shihao-guo
Which format is going to stick?
Was the change intentional?

[tomusdrw]

AFAICT the change in trace format was intentional and it will stay like this. Not sure about hex vs decimals though - @debris could you confirm?

[debris]

The change was introduced here by @gavofyork . I believe it was intentional and we will stick with it

[mtbitcoin]

Actually I remember bringing this up in the Gitter chat with @gavofyork in 1.4 when they were displayed as decimals instead of hex. And it was then reverted back to hex in the following push. This was related to an issue of the ordering the trace number which he was fixing

[shihao-guo]

If parity were to adopt the format and number representation from master in a new lease, which one may it be?

[gavofyork]

it will be fixed going forward as decimals.

the convention is decimals if the number is indexing into a data structure, hex otherwise.