Update signTransaction to Consistently Return SignedTransactionInfoAPI

[Spacesai1or]

Before this PR, web3Eth.signTransaction was returning whatever the user passed as the transaction parameter for respnose.tx when the RPC client was returning only the RLP encoded transaction as the RPC response (in the below code example, Ganache was only returning the value labeled as raw, while Geth was returning the entire object (i.e. { raw: ..., tx: ... })). This resulted in varying returns values based on which client the request was submitted to:

If the connected client was Ganache:

{
    raw: '0xf86580843b9aca018252089400000000000000000000000000000000000000000180820a95a02bd3ccac498541156149591091ff2af043f0be204a7d723701a9e1366dcc6f5fa02a138f18dcafebcf48d9df2c7b3d7fa5f0741b2921d6f42fdc219f34a7ddd97e',
    tx: {
      from: '0x6e599da0bff7a6598ac1224e4985430bf16458a4',
      nonce: 0n,
      to: '0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000',
      value: 1n,
      gas: 21000n,
      gasPrice: 1000000001n
    }
}

If the connected client was Geth:

{
   raw: '0xf86580843b9aca018252089400000000000000000000000000000000000000000180820a95a003d7879059608586185d1f1b662a73f2701026403b44ab639b5558b043ca375ca0024054e057f5cc1e1f3d2c7aabf162616caf95bbcfb8215376210ff410d91f32',
   tx: {
      type: 0n,
      nonce: 0n,
      gasPrice: 1000000001n,
      gas: 21000n,
      value: 1n,
      v: 2709n,
      r: '0x03d7879059608586185d1f1b662a73f2701026403b44ab639b5558b043ca375c',
      s: '0x024054e057f5cc1e1f3d2c7aabf162616caf95bbcfb8215376210ff410d91f32',
      to: '0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000',
      data: '0x'
    }
}

After this PR:

If the connected client was Ganache:

{
    raw: '0xf86580843b9aca018252089400000000000000000000000000000000000000000180820a95a02bd3ccac498541156149591091ff2af043f0be204a7d723701a9e1366dcc6f5fa02a138f18dcafebcf48d9df2c7b3d7fa5f0741b2921d6f42fdc219f34a7ddd97e',
    tx: {
      nonce: 0n,
      gasPrice: 1000000001n,
      gasLimit: 21000n,
      to: '0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000',
      value: 1n,
      data: '0x',
      v: 2709n,
      r: '0x2bd3ccac498541156149591091ff2af043f0be204a7d723701a9e1366dcc6f5f',
      s: '0x2a138f18dcafebcf48d9df2c7b3d7fa5f0741b2921d6f42fdc219f34a7ddd97e',
      type: 0n
    }
}

If the connected client was Geth:

{
    raw: '0xf86580843b9aca018252089400000000000000000000000000000000000000000180820a95a0e7e229dcf3b6930ec7a090164f3bafe42fe4b343e2ac89f4e7077992e4cae7a9a0368c25b3275b8f8d8c9ea7b4fd7715b474843f4a6f36c9088d1c9e3f0d61dc27',
    tx: {
      type: 0n,
      nonce: 0n,
      gasPrice: 1000000001n,
      gas: 21000n,
      value: 1n,
      v: 2709n,
      r: '0xe7e229dcf3b6930ec7a090164f3bafe42fe4b343e2ac89f4e7077992e4cae7a9',
      s: '0x368c25b3275b8f8d8c9ea7b4fd7715b474843f4a6f36c9088d1c9e3f0d61dc27',
      to: '0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000',
      data: '0x'
    }
}

---

One point of discussion that remains: In the last two above code examples, the response from Ganache returns the gasLimit property because the raw encoded transaction is being parsed by @ethereumjs/tx's TransactionFactory. However, the response from Geth returns gasLimit as gas which is what's being done in 1.x. The decision to be made it whether we will continue to use gas to describe gasLimit in 4.x

• Both the old and new ETH RPC spec use gas for eth_sendTransaction
• Ethers.js uses gasLimit

closes #5077

[render]

Your Render PR Server URL is https://web3js-docs-pr-5312.onrender.com.

Follow its progress at https://dashboard.render.com/static/srv-cbll3vpa6gdhl7bpba8g.

[jdevcs]

We should also add tests for 0x1 and 0x2 transactions

[Spacesai1or]

Updated via this commit

[jdevcs]

does this support EIP-2718 Enveloped transactions decoding? I think not, Its only for RLP encoded 0x0 tx decoding?

[Spacesai1or]

Yes it can handle type transactions as shown by tests still passing after this commit. This is because transaction parsing is done via @ethereumjs/tx's TransactionFactory.fromSerializedData here

[jdevcs]

The decision to be made it whether we will continue to use gas to describe gasLimit in 4.x
Both the old and new ETH RPC spec use gas for eth_sendTransaction
Ethers.js uses gasLimit

Yellow paper specifies gasLimit instead of gas, but EL specs is using gas. ethereum/execution-apis#283 will see its response.

IMO we should keep gas field for now. and in future should add support of gasLimit field as well

[Muhammad-Altabba]

Is it good to have both gasLimit and gas. Where both of them will have the exact same value? This would mean that the library user can read any of them. And this means, for the user, for example, an easier migration from ethers.js.

[nikoulai]

Apart from @jdevcs comments, LGTM.

I think we should go with gasLimit as users will be more familiar with yellow paper than the execution specs and would, also, make migration from Ethers.js easier. But, would like to hear the rest of the team.

[Spacesai1or]

I added code to replace gasLimit with gas when calling formatTransaction thinking this would be a good way to enforce the library only returning gas instead of gasLimit or gas, however this broke a lot of unit tests and wasn't a complete solution as there are other instances where transaction objects are formatted that don't use formatTransaction such as getTransaction. So, I propose we make a separate issue to decide globally how the library should handle gasLimit vs gas as a lot of code would need to be updated that's not directly related to this PR

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#5387 was created to track this