Add --disable-attesting flag to validator client (#7046)

Cleaned up and isolated version of the `--disable-attesting` flag for the VC, from the `holesky-rescue` branch:

- https://github.com/sigp/lighthouse/pull/7041

I figured we don't need the `--disable-attesting` flag on the BN for now, and it was a much more invasive impl.

validator_client/src/cli.rs

@@ -97,6 +97,15 @@ pub struct ValidatorClient {
     )]
     pub disable_auto_discover: bool,
 
+    #[clap(
+        long,
+        help = "Disable the performance of attestation duties (and sync committee duties). This \
+                flag should only be used in emergencies to prioritise block proposal duties.",
+        display_order = 0,
+        help_heading = FLAG_HEADER
+    )]
+    pub disable_attesting: bool,
+
     #[clap(
         long,
         help = "If present, the validator client will use longer timeouts for requests \

validator_client/src/config.rs

@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ pub struct Config {
     /// Configuration for the initialized validators
     #[serde(flatten)]
     pub initialized_validators: InitializedValidatorsConfig,
+    pub disable_attesting: bool,
 }
 
 impl Default for Config {
@@ -126,6 +127,7 @@ impl Default for Config {
             validator_registration_batch_size: 500,
             distributed: false,
             initialized_validators: <_>::default(),
+            disable_attesting: false,
         }
     }
 }
@@ -379,6 +381,8 @@ impl Config {
                 true
             };
 
+        config.disable_attesting = validator_client_config.disable_attesting;
+
         Ok(config)
     }
 }

validator_client/src/lib.rs

@@ -478,6 +478,7 @@ impl<E: EthSpec> ProductionValidatorClient<E> {
             context: duties_context,
             enable_high_validator_count_metrics: config.enable_high_validator_count_metrics,
             distributed: config.distributed,
+            disable_attesting: config.disable_attesting,
         });
 
         // Update the metrics server.
@@ -507,6 +508,7 @@ impl<E: EthSpec> ProductionValidatorClient<E> {
             .validator_store(validator_store.clone())
             .beacon_nodes(beacon_nodes.clone())
             .runtime_context(context.service_context("attestation".into()))
+            .disable(config.disable_attesting)
             .build()?;
 
         let preparation_service = PreparationServiceBuilder::new()