refactor: drop dependency of evo/specialtxman on validation.h

[knst]

Issue being fixed or feature implemented

One more circular dependency is trivial to avoid.

What was done?

• make CheckSpecialTxInner member of CSpecialTxProcessor
• use m_consensus_params instead of m_chainman.GetConsensus() in CSpecialTxProcessor
• pass GetBlockSubsidy to CSpecialTxProcessor and avoid its recalculation twice
• hold BlockManager in CSpecialTxProcessor instead of chainman.m_blockman
• pass BlockManager to CheckMNHFTx instead of ChainstateManager
• drop validation.h from mnhftx.cpp
• pass consensus params and is_v24_active to CheckPro-Txs
• pass is_v24_active into CheckSpecialTx
• pass is_v24_active into BuildNewListFromBlock/RebuildListFromBlock
• pass is_v24_active into ProcessSpecialTxsInBlock
• pass CChain into ProcessSpecialTxsInBlock
• record the background MN list hash from ConnectBlock
• return the MN list once through MNListUpdates
• break circular dependency over specialtxman and validation.h
• remove unused includes from specialtxman.cpp and related files

It helps to break circular dependency over evo/specialtxman <-> validation and reveal other circular dependencies that has been hidden by this short cycle.

NOTE: once v24 is buried deployment, some code could be re-refactored and simplified because chainman is not needed for buried deployments.

How Has This Been Tested?

Run & updated test/lint/lint-circular-dependencies.py

Breaking Changes

N/A

Checklist:

• I have performed a self-review of my own code
• I have commented my code, particularly in hard-to-understand areas
• I have added or updated relevant unit/integration/functional/e2e tests
• I have made corresponding changes to the documentation
• I have assigned this pull request to a milestone (for repository code-owners and collaborators only)

[thepastaclaw]

🕓 Queued for automated review — 52nd in line, estimated start in ~48 h (commit 4a1b3b7)
Estimated review time once started: ~1.9 h (two-phase automated review; median of recent runs).

• Request priority review — tick this box and the review moves to the front of the queue.

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Repository UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Advanced

Run ID: 4aabba1a-5dc1-447c-a89e-ad46e2deb9f4

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 08525d6 and 4a1b3b7.

📒 Files selected for processing (21)

• src/evo/chainhelper.cpp
• src/evo/chainhelper.h
• src/evo/creditpool.h
• src/evo/deterministicmns.cpp
• src/evo/deterministicmns.h
• src/evo/mnhftx.cpp
• src/evo/mnhftx.h
• src/evo/providertx_service.cpp
• src/evo/specialtxman.cpp
• src/evo/specialtxman.h
• src/init.cpp
• src/node/chainstate.cpp
• src/node/miner.cpp
• src/rpc/evo.cpp
• src/test/evo_deterministicmns_tests.cpp
• src/test/evo_mnhf_tests.cpp
• src/test/evo_trivialvalidation.cpp
• src/test/util/setup_common.cpp
• src/test/validation_chainstatemanager_tests.cpp
• src/validation.cpp
• test/lint/lint-circular-dependencies.py

Included review availability: Your plan provides up to 4 included reviews per hour; 2 remain after this review.

---

Walkthrough

The change removes several ChainstateManager dependencies from masternode and special-transaction processing. APIs now receive node::BlockManager, Consensus::Params, V24 activation state, block subsidy, chain context, and direct MNListUpdates outputs. Block validation records masternode-list hashes explicitly and notifies listeners only when diffs contain changes. Constructors and call sites were updated across initialization, mining, RPC repair, validation, and tests.

Priority: ➖ Normal — Schedule the special-transaction refactor because it changes consensus validation, masternode-list processing, deployment handling, and block-context plumbing across core paths.

Estimated code review effort: 4 (Complex) | ~60 minutes

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to 4a1b3

The explicit consensus-context refactor has no identified merge-blocking behavior regression.

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
  participant MemPoolAccept
  participant CSpecialTxProcessor
  participant ConsensusParams
  participant Chainstate
  MemPoolAccept->>ConsensusParams: Determine V24 activation
  MemPoolAccept->>CSpecialTxProcessor: Check special transaction
  CSpecialTxProcessor->>Chainstate: Validate against chain context
  CSpecialTxProcessor-->>MemPoolAccept: Return validation result

Loading

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 29.49% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 78 functions across 21 files.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly summarizes the primary change: removing the dependency of evo/specialtxman on validation.h through a refactor.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description directly explains the dependency refactor, API changes, masternode list updates, circular-dependency lint changes, and testing performed.

• Fix all pre-merge checks with AI

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests

---

Thanks for using CodeRabbit! It's free for OSS, and your support helps us grow. If you like it, consider giving us a shout-out.

❤️ Share

• X
• Mastodon
• Reddit
• LinkedIn

_{Comment @coderabbitai help to get the list of available commands.}

[github-actions]

Potential PR merge conflicts

This is advisory only. It does not block CI, but it marks PRs that will likely need a rebase depending on merge order.

If these PRs merge first

This PR will likely need a rebase:

• #7292: backport: Merge bitcoin/bitcoin#29458, (partial) 29236, 29459, 29479, 29615, 29433 Changed files: src/validation.cpp.