test: reduce nodes in LLMQ connections test

[thepastaclaw]

Issue being fixed or feature implemented

feature_llmq_connections.py starts 14 masternodes although its quorum coverage remains intact with 10. The additional four processes increase setup, synchronization, connection, and teardown time without strengthening the assertions.

What was done?

Reduce the topology from 15 nodes / 14 masternodes to 11 nodes / 10 masternodes, and tighten the pre-SPORK aggregate verified-MN connection bound from < 40 to < 25. No quorum parameter changes are included.

Coverage remains intact:

• The regular test quorum remains size 5, so the probe, MNAUTH, and reconnect expectations are unchanged.
• Each DIP0024 cycle creates two size-4 quorums. Together they can cover 8 masternodes, leaving 2 additional masternodes as topology headroom.
• The tightened < 25 aggregate bound preserves a substantial margin below all-to-all connectivity: the five inspected quorum members could have up to 5 × 9 = 45 verified masternode connections with 10 masternodes.

How Has This Been Tested?

• python3 -m py_compile test/functional/feature_llmq_connections.py
• git diff --check upstream/develop...HEAD
• Exact-head code review: ship, zero findings
• Six balanced A/B functional runs using the same local dashd build, alternating baseline and candidate with unique datadirs and port seeds; all runs passed

Variant	Runs (seconds)	Median
upstream/develop	106.025, 97.427, 96.872	97.427s
This PR	84.658, 84.309, 89.910	84.658s

Median improvement: 12.769 seconds (13.1%).

Breaking Changes

None.

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

[thepastaclaw]

✅ Final review complete — no blockers (commit ccdc763)

[thepastaclaw]

Final validation — Codex + Sonnet

This PR makes a single, well-justified one-line change reducing feature_llmq_connections.py from 15/14 to 11/10 nodes/masternodes, with commit message reasoning that checks out against the quorum sizing math (llmq_test size 5, two llmq_test_dip0024 quorums at size 4 with signingActiveQuorumCount=2 needing 8 concurrent members, leaving 2 spares out of 10 masternodes). Both verified findings are legitimate but non-blocking observations about shrinking safety margins in two probabilistic assertions (the aggregate connection-count bound and the rotation-churn detection loop); neither breaks correctness, and the second is meaningfully mitigated by the existing precedent of feature_llmq_rotation.py running with even fewer spares (8 MNs, 0 spare). No blocking issues found; recommend COMMENT-level scrutiny on CI stability post-merge.

Source: reviewers codex/general=gpt-5.6-sol(completed); codex/dash-core-commit-history=gpt-5.6-sol(completed); claude/general=claude-sonnet-5(completed); claude/dash-core-commit-history=claude-sonnet-5(failed); claude/dash-core-commit-history=claude-sonnet-5(completed); verifier=claude/final-verifier=claude-sonnet-5(completed); coordinator=openclaw-agent/cliproxy/gpt-5.6-sol(orchestration-only).

Review provenance

• Codex reviewers: gpt-5.6-sol — general (completed), gpt-5.6-sol — dash-core-commit-history (completed)
• Verifier: claude-sonnet-5 — final-verifier
• Sonnet reviewers: claude-sonnet-5 — general (completed), claude-sonnet-5 — dash-core-commit-history (failed), claude-sonnet-5 — dash-core-commit-history (completed)

🟡 1 suggestion(s) | 💬 1 nitpick(s)

2 additional finding(s) omitted (not in diff).

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

These findings are from an automated code review. Verify each finding against the current code and only fix it if needed.

In `test/functional/feature_llmq_connections.py`:
- [SUGGESTION] test/functional/feature_llmq_connections.py:44: Aggregate connection-count margin shrinks from 25 to 5 with 10 masternodes
  `get_mn_connection_count` counts verified MN-to-MN peer connections (any masternode, not just quorum members), so the worst-case full-mesh value for the 5 inspected quorum members is `5 * (num_masternodes - 1)`. With the old 14-masternode topology that ceiling was 5*13=65 against a threshold of 40 — a 25-unit detection margin for catching accidental all-to-all connectivity before SPORK_21 is enabled. With the new 10-masternode topology the ceiling drops to 5*9=45, leaving only a 5-unit margin above the same `< 40` threshold. The assertion still technically holds (45 > 40), but a partial-connectivity bug that previously landed safely in the 41-64 range now has much less room to be distinguished from normal test noise, and legitimate variance creeping into the high 30s/low 40s becomes more likely to produce flaky failures. Tightening the threshold to scale with the new node count (e.g. `< 25`) would restore the original detection margin.

[thepastaclaw]

Changed-test CI timing comparison

Test: feature_llmq_connections.py

Develop baseline: d41edd90 (successful develop CI push run 30402917810; exact base 2e52d33f run 30483914944 failed)
PR run: f9947283 (run 30515380387)

CI configuration	develop baseline	PR	delta	change
linux64	88s	77s	-11s	-12.5%
linux64_ubsan	95s	153s	+58s	+61.1%
linux64_tsan	153s	139s	-14s	-9.2%
linux64_sqlite	111s	88s	-23s	-20.7%
linux64_multiprocess	145s	131s	-14s	-9.7%
Total across applicable configurations	592s	588s	-4s	-0.7%

The changed test was faster in four of five applicable CI configurations. The 58-second UBSAN regression is an outlier that nearly cancels the aggregate reduction in this single pair of CI runs. linux64_nowallet is excluded because the test is skipped when wallet support is not compiled.

These are the functional test runner's per-test durations from the CI logs, not whole-job or whole-suite runtimes.

The develop SQLite execution failed once after 131s and then passed in 111s. The table uses the final successful attempt and excludes that extra failed attempt so the comparison is not inflated by a baseline retry.

[thepastaclaw]

Addressed the aggregate connection-count margin finding in amended commit ccdc763e58: the pre-SPORK verified-MN connection bound now tightens from < 40 to < 25 alongside the reduction to 10 masternodes.

Validation: feature_llmq_connections.py passed locally with the updated bound.

[thepastaclaw]

Final validation — Codex + Sonnet

The delta at ccdc763 tightens the pre-SPORK aggregate verified-MN connection assertion from < 40 to < 25 in the same commit that reduces feature_llmq_connections.py to 11 nodes/10 masternodes. This restores a ~20-connection detection margin against the 45-connection all-to-all worst case, resolving the prior aggregate-margin finding. The other carried-forward prior finding (reduced DIP0024 rotation spare pool) is refuted by first-principles inspection of NetQuorum::CheckQuorumConnections and feature_llmq_rotation.py's own precedent of two fully disjoint size-4 quorums covering 8 total masternodes with zero spares, so 10 masternodes (2 spares) is strictly more slack than an already-proven-good configuration. No in-scope blocking or suggestion-level issues remain at the exact head.

Source: reviewers codex/general=gpt-5.6-sol(completed); codex/dash-core-commit-history=gpt-5.6-sol(completed); claude/general=claude-sonnet-5(completed); claude/dash-core-commit-history=claude-sonnet-5(completed); verifier=claude/final-verifier=claude-sonnet-5(completed); coordinator=openclaw-agent/cliproxy/gpt-5.6-sol(orchestration-only).

Review provenance

• Codex reviewers: gpt-5.6-sol — general (completed), gpt-5.6-sol — dash-core-commit-history (completed)
• Verifier: claude-sonnet-5 — final-verifier
• Sonnet reviewers: claude-sonnet-5 — general (completed), claude-sonnet-5 — dash-core-commit-history (completed)

Note: GitHub does not allow PastaClaw to approve or request changes on their own PR, so the canonical verifier result is transported as a COMMENT review.

[coderabbitai]

Walkthrough

The functional LLMQ connection test now starts with 11 masternodes and 10 quorums. It also requires the aggregate intra-quorum connection count to remain below 25.

Estimated code review effort: 1 (Trivial) | ~2 minutes

Suggested reviewers: knst

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
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.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description directly explains the test topology reduction, tightened connection bound, preserved coverage, and validation results.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and concisely identifies the reduction of nodes in the LLMQ connections test.

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests

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