Remove Chain's virtual `static_validate_header` and `validate_transaction` methods by goodlyrottenapple · Pull Request #2049 · category-labs/monad

goodlyrottenapple · 2026-02-04T13:34:28Z

This PR remove the virtual methods above and Instead dispatches via the trait versions of these functions. This should complete the work of using traits everywhere in execution and switching on timestamp/block only in the core loop.

goodlyrottenapple · 2026-02-04T13:38:34Z

category/execution/ethereum/validate_transaction_error.hpp

@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2025 Category Labs, Inc.


Suggested change

// Copyright (C) 2025 Category Labs, Inc.

// Copyright (C) 2026 Category Labs, Inc.

Should we update the year for new files?

Yep, if new file or wholesale changes then do "2025-26" (checked w/ Peter)

goodlyrottenapple · 2026-02-04T13:42:29Z

category/rpc/monad_executor.cpp

            state.set_code(sender, {});
-            BOOST_OUTCOME_TRY(
-                validate_transaction<traits>(enriched_txn, sender, state));
+            BOOST_OUTCOME_TRY(validate_ethereum_transaction<traits>(


This seems somewhat surprising? Should we be calling validate_transaction which now includes the logic of validate_monad_transaction for monad revisions (I tried this, but the insufficient_balance test started failing).

I think this was always using the validate_transaction from the ethereum module, so I think it is correct to use validate_ethereum_transaction here for now.

I am guessing the test failure that you observe when switching to validate_monad_transaction may be due to reserve balance.

goodlyrottenapple · 2026-02-04T13:43:42Z

cmd/monad/runloop_monad.cpp


    // Block input validation
    BOOST_OUTCOME_TRY(static_validate_consensus_header(consensus_header));
-    BOOST_OUTCOME_TRY(chain.static_validate_header(block.header));


The logic from EthereumMainnet{}.static_validate_header has been merged into the trait version of static_validate_header which gets called via static_validate_block<traits> below.

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Pull request overview

This PR refactors the blockchain validation system by removing virtual methods from the Chain class hierarchy and replacing them with trait-based template dispatch. This completes the architectural goal of using compile-time traits for execution logic instead of runtime polymorphism.

Changes:

Removed virtual static_validate_header and validate_transaction methods from Chain, MonadChain, and EthereumMainnet classes
Introduced trait-based validate_transaction templates in both ethereum and monad namespaces with explicit instantiations for their respective trait types
Extracted TransactionError enum and error mappings to separate header/source files
Moved DAO validation logic from EthereumMainnet to the templated static_validate_header function
Updated all call sites in runloop files, execute_transaction, RPC executor, and tests to use trait-based dispatch

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 26 out of 26 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
category/execution/ethereum/chain/chain.hpp	Removed virtual method declarations from Chain base class
category/execution/ethereum/chain/chain.cpp	Deleted file - no longer needed after removing virtual method implementations
category/execution/ethereum/chain/ethereum_mainnet.hpp	Removed virtual method overrides from EthereumMainnet
category/execution/ethereum/chain/ethereum_mainnet.cpp	Removed DAO validation and validate_transaction implementations
category/execution/monad/chain/monad_chain.hpp	Removed virtual validate_transaction declaration
category/execution/monad/chain/monad_chain.cpp	Removed validate_transaction implementation
category/execution/ethereum/validate_block.hpp	Removed non-template static_validate_block declaration
category/execution/ethereum/validate_block.cpp	Added DAO validation to templated static_validate_header, removed non-template static_validate_block
category/execution/ethereum/validate_transaction.hpp	Moved validate_ethereum_transaction inline, added trait-based validate_transaction declaration, extracted TransactionError to separate file
category/execution/ethereum/validate_transaction.cpp	Refactored to use trait-based validate_transaction with EVM traits instantiation, removed error mappings
category/execution/ethereum/validate_transaction_error.hpp	New file containing TransactionError enum and error domain setup
category/execution/ethereum/validate_transaction_error.cpp	New file containing TransactionError value mappings
category/execution/monad/validate_monad_transaction.hpp	Updated to trait-based validate_transaction signature
category/execution/monad/validate_monad_transaction.cpp	Refactored to trait-based validate_transaction with Monad traits instantiation
category/execution/ethereum/transaction_gas.hpp	Removed non-template gas_price declaration
category/execution/ethereum/transaction_gas.cpp	Removed non-template gas_price implementation
category/execution/ethereum/execute_transaction.hpp	Removed non-template g_star declaration
category/execution/ethereum/execute_transaction.cpp	Updated to call trait-based validate_transaction, removed non-template g_star
cmd/monad/runloop_ethereum.cpp	Removed chain.static_validate_header call
cmd/monad/runloop_monad.cpp	Removed chain.static_validate_header call
cmd/monad/runloop_monad_ethblocks.cpp	Removed chain.static_validate_header call
category/rpc/monad_executor.cpp	Updated to call validate_ethereum_transaction instead of validate_transaction
test/ethereum_test/src/blockchain_test.cpp	Removed virtual method overrides from TraitsMainnet test fixture
category/execution/ethereum/test/test_validation.cpp	Updated tests to use validate_ethereum_transaction and made wrong_dao_extra_data test trait-aware
category/execution/ethereum/test/test_monad_chain.cpp	Updated test to use new validate_transaction signature
category/execution/CMakeLists.txt	Removed chain.cpp, added validate_transaction_error files

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Copilot · 2026-02-04T14:33:59Z

category/execution/ethereum/test/test_validation.cpp

    ASSERT_TRUE(result.has_error());
-    EXPECT_EQ(result.error(), BlockError::WrongDaoExtraData);
+    if constexpr (is_evm_trait_v<typename TestFixture::Trait>) {
+        EXPECT_EQ(result.error(), BlockError::WrongDaoExtraData);
+    }


The test expects an error for all trait types, but the new DAO validation (lines 79-87) only returns an error for EVM traits (when is_evm_trait_v<traits> is true). For Monad traits, the header will pass validation since gas_limit is valid, causing the test assertion at line 341 to fail. The conditional check at line 342-344 only affects which error code is expected, not whether an error should occur.

Consider either:

Updating the test to only assert an error for EVM traits

Adding DAO validation for Monad traits if that's the intended behavior

The test fails validation for different reason in monad traits. Question is whether we want to:
a) leave as is
b) focus only on etherum behaviour by restricting to EvmTraitsTest
c) add an else case for monad which specifies the alternate validation error
d) make the header pass validation for monad traits

Is case c the matter of adding a single else, or do we need an else per monad revision?

…ion and instead dispatching via traits

goodlyrottenapple force-pushed the sam/traits_refactor branch 2 times, most recently from 44faa6a to 380cf2a Compare February 4, 2026 13:37

goodlyrottenapple commented Feb 4, 2026

View reviewed changes

goodlyrottenapple changed the title ~~Remove chain virtual static_validate_header and validate_transaction methods~~ Remove Chain's virtual static_validate_header and validate_transaction methods Feb 4, 2026

goodlyrottenapple force-pushed the sam/traits_refactor branch from 380cf2a to dd27a93 Compare February 4, 2026 13:54

goodlyrottenapple marked this pull request as ready for review February 4, 2026 14:28

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings February 4, 2026 14:28

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of goodlyrottenapple February 4, 2026 14:28 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Feb 4, 2026

View reviewed changes

Refactor chain, removing static_validate_header and validate_transact…

df83013

…ion and instead dispatching via traits

goodlyrottenapple force-pushed the sam/traits_refactor branch from dd27a93 to df83013 Compare February 6, 2026 13:10

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Remove Chain's virtual `static_validate_header` and `validate_transaction` methods#2049

Remove Chain's virtual `static_validate_header` and `validate_transaction` methods#2049
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	// Copyright (C) 2025 Category Labs, Inc.
	// Copyright (C) 2026 Category Labs, Inc.

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