Electrum 2.8 is released

[ThomasV]

From the release notes:

# Release 2.8.0 (March 9, 2017)
  * Wallet file encryption using ECIES: A keypair is derived from the
    wallet password. Once the wallet is decrypted, only the public key
    is retained in memory, in order to save the encrypted file.
  * The daemon requires wallets to be explicitly loaded before
    commands can use them. Wallets can be loaded using: 'electrum
    daemon load_wallet [-w path]'. This command will require a
    password if the wallet is encrypted.
  * Invoices and contacts are stored in the wallet file and are no
    longer shared between wallets. Previously created invoices and
    contacts files may be imported from the menu.
  * Fees improvements:
    - Dynamic fees are enabled by default.
    - Child Pays For Parent (CPFP) dialog in the GUI.
    - RBF is automatically proposed for low fee transactions.
  * Support for Segregated Witness (testnet only).
  * Support for Digital Bitbox hardware wallet.
  * The GUI shows a blue icon when connected using a proxy.

Please note that it will regenerate all your addresses the first time you run it, due to a format update.

[Abdussamad]

so the wallet cannot be viewed until a password is provided. this is an interesting change indeed. it'll certainly protect people from sending money to wallets they can't spend from.

edit: I also see you've added support for bitcoin unlimited's testnet nolnet. I guess you are hedging your bets

[kolloh]

Awesome. The dynamic fees being properly enabled by default should help prevent a lot of issues for new users who were sending low fee transactions.

[adaseb]

If I am using the older 2.7.12 wallet on cold storage do I need to upgrade to this version? Or will it still work?

[ThomasV]

so the wallet cannot be viewed until a password is provided. this is an interesting change indeed. it'll certainly protect people from sending money to wallets they can't spend from.

exactly. that is actually the main reason for this feature.

edit: I also see you've added support for bitcoin unlimited's testnet nolnet. I guess you are hedging your bets

not really. this feature is not helpful to Electrum, because Electrum is not aware of the block size.
I accepted to merge it in order to let people test BU, and not to test Electrum.
see the relevant conversation here: https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/pull/2236

[Quickseller]

If a user has a pre-version 2.8 wallet that they wish to remain encrypted, that currently contains BTC and/or transactions are anticipated to be received by addresses within the wallet, how upgrading to 2.8 affect their wallet? Will they need to keep this wallet unencrypted in order to spend BTC in that old wallet?

[endofmypain]

long time no update my electrum client is time to update  nice dev

[kolloh]

If a user has a pre-version 2.8 wallet that they wish to remain encrypted, that currently contains BTC and/or transactions are anticipated to be received by addresses within the wallet, how upgrading to 2.8 affect their wallet? Will they need to keep this wallet unencrypted in order to spend BTC in that old wallet?

Remain encrypted or remain unencrypted?

Upgrading a pre-version 2.8 wallet will remain in an unencrypted state initially. If you change the password to the wallet, then the entire wallet will become encrypted. Upgrading shouldn't lead to any issues with spending funds.

[Abdussamad]

If a user has a pre-version 2.8 wallet that they wish to remain encrypted, that currently contains BTC and/or transactions are anticipated to be received by addresses within the wallet, how upgrading to 2.8 affect their wallet? Will they need to keep this wallet unencrypted in order to spend BTC in that old wallet?

In <2.8 electrum the wallet seed and imported private keys were the only things encrypted by the password. Upgrading to 2.8 doesn't change that. The only thing that changes is that in 2.8 you have the option to encrypt the whole wallet file if you want. Doing so will mean that no one can view it until they enter the password. You can do this from the password change dialog box wallet menu > password. You don't have to change the password though but you do have to enter it there and check the "encrypt wallet" option.

[goldenpay]

The only thing that changes is that in 2.8 you have the option to encrypt the whole wallet file if you want. Doing so will mean that no one can view it until they enter the password. You can do this from the password change dialog box wallet menu > password. You don't have to change the password though but you do have to enter it there and check the "encrypt wallet" option.

this is good, after encrypt wallet, now every time we open the electrum, password require

[Coin-Keeper]

Two questions.  I am going to upgrade this weekend and I don't see these discussed.

1.  Does Electrum 2.8 allow for a wallet to be encrypted on my online computer if that wallet is "watching only"?  Most of my wallets are paired to hardware wallets, but not all of them.  It would be nice to conceal the contents of the wallet from being observed without a password, but I won't put the full keys on the online computer.  Just curious if anyone has tried this yet where only MPK is available?

2.  For Trezor users here, has Electrum 2.8 been seamless?

I will be able to answer these myself this weekend, but if some have tried the two above I would appreciate a heads up.  Thanks.

[Abdussamad]

Two questions.  I am going to upgrade this weekend and I don't see these discussed.

1.  Does Electrum 2.8 allow for a wallet to be encrypted on my online computer if that wallet is "watching only"?  Most of my wallets are paired to hardware wallets, but not all of them.  It would be nice to conceal the contents of the wallet from being observed without a password, but I won't put the full keys on the online computer.  Just curious if anyone has tried this yet where only MPK is available?

I just checked and it doesn't allow you to encrypt a watching only wallet.

[Coin-Keeper]

Too bad!  I have been following along, let me make a quote from earlier in this thread to illustrate my point.

so the wallet cannot be viewed until a password is provided. this is an interesting change indeed. it'll certainly protect people from sending money to wallets they can't spend from.

Thomas affirmed that as partly the coding reason a post or two below the member that originally made the comment.  Unfortunately there have been several folks that have sent money to an address in their watching only wallets only to find out they lost their private keys due to computer failure and they didn't have their SEED backed up.  The encryption feature on a watching only wallet would be useless for recovery (no private keys), but it would have been nice for privacy on an open and running computer.

[Abdussamad]

Too bad!  I have been following along, let me make a quote from earlier in this thread to illustrate my point.

so the wallet cannot be viewed until a password is provided. this is an interesting change indeed. it'll certainly protect people from sending money to wallets they can't spend from.

Thomas affirmed that as partly the coding reason a post or two below the member that originally made the comment.  Unfortunately there have been several folks that have sent money to an address in their watching only wallets only to find out they lost their private keys due to computer failure and they didn't have their SEED backed up.  The encryption feature on a watching only wallet would be useless for recovery (no private keys), but it would have been nice for privacy on an open and running computer.

Yep I made that comment originally Yes it would be a good feature to have for watch-only wallets too from a privacy standpoint. But not from a loss avoidance standpoint:

- With watch-only wallets you get a warning during start up that the wallet is watch-only and you better make sure that you have the seed. With seeded wallets there is no such warning.

- The sort of people who make watch-only wallets are technically more proficient than your average electrum user. They are expected to be more responsible with their actions.

- There is no guarantee that, just because you know the password to your watch-only wallet, you also have the seed. The seed is not in the watch-only wallet file so it has nothing to do with the password you put on the wallet file. With seeded wallets you have this promise, if you will, that if you entered the right password you can go ahead and safely receive money to your wallet but you can't say the same for watch-only wallets.

If you still want this then maybe you can make an issue about it on github but i for one don't think it makes sense if the aim is to save people from losing their money by sending their coins to an inaccessible address.

[Crazy850]

Hi guys, just new in Electrum.
1) Downloaded and installed last version (hope so) here http://prntscr.com/ekk1g8
2) Created seeded wallet with own wallet name (not default)
3) Set strong password
  ...and some next step (i guess "creating wallet" or so) program just closed without any words..

Next start of Electrum prompts to input password for default_wallet  where my password causes "Wrong password" answer
if I manually change name of wallet from the "default_wallet" to my one and input my password program again just closes an all is disappears....

Where is my newb mistake 

Thanks

[Abdussamad]

the seed is shown first before you get to enter the password so what you are saying doesn't make sense. did you download electrum from electrum.org?

[Crazy850]

the seed is shown first before you get to enter the password so what you are saying doesn't make sense. did you download electrum from electrum.org?

Hm, yes creating of the seed was shown before then password... I can not remember all dialog in details but it is. An I did not seen the face of a program because of that password issue...
And yes, I have downloaded it from from electrum.org

What if I will uninstall and try again will it create new seed? wallet?

Thanks a lot

[Abdussamad]

the seed is shown first before you get to enter the password so what you are saying doesn't make sense. did you download electrum from electrum.org?

Hm, yes creating of the seed was shown before then password... I can not remember all dialog in details but it is. An I did not seen the face of a program because of that password issue...
And yes, I have downloaded it from from electrum.org

What if I will uninstall and try again will it create new seed? wallet?

Thanks a lot

Uninstalling it won't change anything. The wallets are stored in your home directory and uninstalling electrum only removes the binaries. It doesn't remove the wallet(s). The wallet directory is given below:

http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/faq.html#where-is-my-wallet-file-located

If you like you can delete the old wallets. Some users make the mistake of receiving bitcoins to wallets they can't spend from so it may be better to delete any unused wallet files so that you don't make that mistake. Otherwise if you just want to create a new wallet use file > new/restore. If it doesn't show the menus at all then you will have to delete or rename the default_wallet file found in the wallets directory above first.

[Crazy850]

the seed is shown first before you get to enter the password so what you are saying doesn't make sense. did you download electrum from electrum.org?

Hm, yes creating of the seed was shown before then password... I can not remember all dialog in details but it is. An I did not seen the face of a program because of that password issue...
And yes, I have downloaded it from from electrum.org

What if I will uninstall and try again will it create new seed? wallet?

Thanks a lot

Uninstalling it won't change anything. The wallets are stored in your home directory and uninstalling electrum only removes the binaries. It doesn't remove the wallet(s). The wallet directory is given below:

http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/faq.html#where-is-my-wallet-file-located

If you like you can delete the old wallets. Some users make the mistake of receiving bitcoins to wallets they can't spend from so it may be better to delete any unused wallet files so that you don't make that mistake. Otherwise if you just want to create a new wallet use file > new/restore. If it doesn't show the menus at all then you will have to delete or rename the default_wallet file found in the wallets directory above first.

Oh thanks a lot! I have reinstalled, then renamed default wallet to the name I have created in the very first steps and now password accepted and, finally, I have program opened. 

[Coin-Keeper]

If you still want this then maybe you can make an issue about it on github but i for one don't think it makes sense if the aim is to save people from losing their money by sending their coins to an inaccessible address.

I spend some time looking through branches at github.  I personally don't worry at all about losing my coins.  First, I use hardware wallets for daily stuff.  My only non-hardware wallet scenario's are combo hot/cold two computer types.  If there is such a thing as a "backup-aholic" it would be me.

The encrypted "watcher" was only the convenience of privacy if someone took a quick glance at a screen.  That happening would be a mistake in the first place, but family members when you walk out of the room or something like that, is a possibility.  I could custom tailor an easy solution by "path" directing my wallets to a virtual drive and then keeping that drive closed unless access is needed.