Using Armory on the BCH chain

[HCP]

tried your method but it fails inside an Ubuntu VM.  Armory shows "Node Offline" but with the correct number of initial blocks as it must be seeing the previously running bitcoind.  i've unchecked the Setttings box that allows Armory to control bitcoind.  the background Armory Terminal  window shows "BDM is ready!" but no further blocks get appended to this window altho bitcoind is keeping up and appears to be running properly.  any help would be appreciated.

Do you have:

Code:

server=1
listen=1

in the bitcoin.conf file in the Bitcoin-ABC data directory (ie. the directory with the wallet.dat)? It's also possible that the VM setup is causing the issue with Bitcoin-ABC being able to talk to bitcoind...

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[justmyname]

You did download the Linux version?

https://download.bitcoinabc.org/0.16.1/linux/

[alomar]

this is what i'm seeing.  the Armory GUI overlapping the terminal window.  blocks are up to date and continuously being successfully added  on the BCH chain (when i query bitcoin-cli getblockcount) yet no blocks are being recognized by Armory.

https://imgur.com/zjCRo3a

i should add that this BCH chain in the guest VM is on the same machine that holds the BTC chain on the host.  it could be some sort of socket interference, altho i'm not trying to run them at the same time.  i've been reading about TIME WAIT's binding the socket but i'm not sure.

[alomar]

You did download the Linux version?

https://download.bitcoinabc.org/0.16.1/linux/

i built from source.

[justmyname]

it must be seeing the previously running bitcoind

I completely uninstalled the original Bitcoin wallet including hidden files. That way it can't interfere. I couldn't even cleanly install ABC without removing previous wallet.

If you don't want to delete the Bitcoin wallet. Why not cut and paste the Bitcoin hidden folder to a thumb drive until BCH is extracted? Then after extracting BCH, put the Bitcoin file back and reinstall the program. Then you won't have to download the block chain again and your settings will be saved.

It looks to me like you have to uninstall the Bitcoin Client and it's hidden folder. Then Reinstall ABC wallet. And you might have to re-download the ABC Block chain.  

Another thing you could try is to uninstall Armory. And delete the hidden Amory files also. Nuke it. Then restore Armory. If you're ABC wallet is working normal.  Then it is likely corrupted Armory data on your online computer. I originally was going to do that but decided to Scan and Rebuild the data base instead.  

[alomar]

successfully installed 0.96.4 but still get Node Offline error.  bitcoind updating blocks just fine.

[HCP]

Is your bitcoind installation configured to use:

Code:

listen=1
server=1

in the bitcoin.conf file? (or using -server=1 -listen=1 from the commandline?)

In any case, you will probably need to post your logs for people to be able to troubleshoot further.

[justmyname]

successfully installed 0.96.4 but still get Node Offline error.  bitcoind updating blocks just fine.

Somethings wrong with Armory then. As your ABC wallet is working. All I did was uncheck the box that says something like "Allow Armory to run Bitcoin-qt in the background".  That fixed the offline node error.  But I still had zero balance until I had Armory in the help menu "rescan and rebuild data base". Worst case scenario, you will have to restore your Armory wallets.

Another way to get the offline node error. Is to by accidentally, restore your offline wallet to your online machine with the paper backup. That had me spinning my wheels for a while.

[alomar]

Is your bitcoind installation configured to use:

Code:

listen=1
server=1

in the bitcoin.conf file? (or using -server=1 -listen=1 from the commandline?)

In any case, you will probably need to post your logs for people to be able to troubleshoot further.

a bitcoin.conf file is not required.  in any case, i did try adding it with those instructions but still Node Offline.

[alomar]

looking inside .bitcoin, the only differences i see btwn the contents of this BCH blockchain and my currently working BTC blockchain, both inside Ubuntu VM's on different machines, are two additional files inside the BTC blockchain; .cookie and bitcoind.pid.  anyone recognize those two and what they are?  are they critical to getting this Node Online?

@HCP:  there is no bitcoin.conf inside my working .bitcoin directory on my BTC blockchain.

[justmyname]

Armory is not for altcoins. I provided a BCH signer so that people can get their coins out. I will provide a BTG signer to the same end. I made it pretty clear back in August that if BCH (or any other Bitcoin fork for that matter) was to introduce changes that made it incompatible with Armory, I would not support that stuff.

Bump. BTG signer yet? 

[justmyname]

looking inside .bitcoin, the only differences i see btwn the contents of this BCH blockchain and my currently working BTC blockchain, both inside Ubuntu VM's on different machines, are two additional files inside the BTC blockchain; .cookie and bitcoind.pid.  anyone recognize those two and what they are?  are they critical to getting this Node Online?

@HCP:  there is no bitcoin.conf inside my working .bitcoin directory on my BTC blockchain.

You can google them. I googled them a long time ago. Don't remember what they are. I just wanted to make sure they weren't some type of spyware and found them to be safe...

If you have the old BTC folder and blockchain still on your computer that is likely the reason you're having trouble. You probably have to nuke everything and re-install the ABC wallet. If that doesn't fix it. Nuke and restore Armory.

[HCP]

looking inside .bitcoin, the only differences i see btwn the contents of this BCH blockchain and my currently working BTC blockchain, both inside Ubuntu VM's on different machines, are two additional files inside the BTC blockchain; .cookie and bitcoind.pid.  anyone recognize those two and what they are?  are they critical to getting this Node Online?

@HCP:  there is no bitcoin.conf inside my working .bitcoin directory on my BTC blockchain.

How do you launch the BTC "bitcoind"? Are you using any commandline parameters?

The .cookie file is used for RPC Authentication... without it, you probably won't be able to connect to bitcoind via RPC. You might want to check some of the commandline options as specified here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Running_Bitcoin

I would think that, at the very least, -server would be required so that it accepts the RPC commands. It's also possible you're running into some weird behaviour with them in VMs relating to ports and networking...

[alomar]

looking inside .bitcoin, the only differences i see btwn the contents of this BCH blockchain and my currently working BTC blockchain, both inside Ubuntu VM's on different machines, are two additional files inside the BTC blockchain; .cookie and bitcoind.pid.  anyone recognize those two and what they are?  are they critical to getting this Node Online?

@HCP:  there is no bitcoin.conf inside my working .bitcoin directory on my BTC blockchain.

How do you launch the BTC "bitcoind"? Are you using any commandline parameters?

The .cookie file is used for RPC Authentication... without it, you probably won't be able to connect to bitcoind via RPC. You might want to check some of the commandline options as specified here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Running_Bitcoin

I would think that, at the very least, -server would be required so that it accepts the RPC commands. It's also possible you're running into some weird behaviour with them in VMs relating to ports and networking...

i'm launching bitcoind different ways; either directly in CLI with "bitcoind" first, then launching Armory or launching bitcoind via letting Armory do it.  either way Node Offline.  bitcoind by itself will update when launched alone as assessed by "bitcoin-cli getblockcount".  like i said, my other instance of a VM based BTC blockchain works just fine on my other computer that doesn't have another blockchain on the host. so i know this setup runs inside a VM just fine.  that setup also does NOT have a bitcoin.conf file.  i also read somewhere that bitcoin.conf is not necessary.   this problematic computer does have the BTC blockchain on the host (which i don't run simultaneously of course).  i don't see how that could be interfering with BCH client communicating with Armory in the VM however.

as an aside, when i start up Armory with either bitcoind started by itself first or by letting Armory control it, the block count at bottom right in Armory shows the updated correct number.  it just won't advance beyond that both in the GUI and in the terminal (stuck at "BDM ready!").

[HCP]

i'm launching bitcoind different ways; either directly in CLI with "bitcoind" first, then launching Armory or launching bitcoind via letting Armory do it.  either way Node Offline.  bitcoind by itself will update when launched alone as assessed by "bitcoin-cli getblockcount".  like i said, my other instance of a VM based BTC blockchain works just fine on my other computer that doesn't have another blockchain on the host. so i know this setup runs inside a VM just fine.  that setup also does NOT have a bitcoin.conf file.  i also read somewhere that bitcoin.conf is not necessary.

It's not strictly necessary to have a bitcoin.conf file... but it's possible that things are not working correctly without the appropriate runtime arguments being passed to the daemon (like "server").

as an aside, when i start up Armory with either bitcoind started by itself first or by letting Armory control it, the block count at bottom right in Armory shows the updated correct number.  it just won't advance beyond that both in the GUI and in the terminal (stuck at "BDM ready!").

That's very similar to the issue I have on Windows 10 when I don't user -server and -listen parameters... it will sync up to whatever block bitcoind has at the time it starts, but doesn't seem to get new blocks

[alomar]

i'm launching bitcoind different ways; either directly in CLI with "bitcoind" first, then launching Armory or launching bitcoind via letting Armory do it.  either way Node Offline.  bitcoind by itself will update when launched alone as assessed by "bitcoin-cli getblockcount".  like i said, my other instance of a VM based BTC blockchain works just fine on my other computer that doesn't have another blockchain on the host. so i know this setup runs inside a VM just fine.  that setup also does NOT have a bitcoin.conf file.  i also read somewhere that bitcoin.conf is not necessary.

It's not strictly necessary to have a bitcoin.conf file... but it's possible that things are not working correctly without the appropriate runtime arguments being passed to the daemon (like "server").

as an aside, when i start up Armory with either bitcoind started by itself first or by letting Armory control it, the block count at bottom right in Armory shows the updated correct number.  it just won't advance beyond that both in the GUI and in the terminal (stuck at "BDM ready!").

That's very similar to the issue I have on Windows 10 when I don't user -server and -listen parameters... it will sync up to whatever block bitcoind has at the time it starts, but doesn't seem to get new blocks

would you be willing to share the entire contents of your bitcoin.conf?  like i said, i tried listing both server=1 and listen=1 as well as dummy rpcuser and rpcpassword parameters without success.

[alomar]

@HCP and @justmyname

this post here suggests the newer versions of ABC won't work with Armory.  what versions have you been successful in getting to work with Armory?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3353849.msg35175889#msg35175889

[goatpig]

A few months after the first BCH release, I believe ABC changed magic word and port. This is why Armory cannot work with these nodes. Changing the node port is easy, as there's a command line argument in the DB for this purpose. However, magic words are hardcoded.

You'd have to modify the Armory source to use this other magic word only for the node then build yourself to get it to work with newer ABC versions.

[alomar]

A few months after the first BCH release, I believe ABC changed magic word and port. This is why Armory cannot work with these nodes. Changing the node port is easy, as there's a command line argument in the DB for this purpose. However, magic words are hardcoded.

You'd have to modify the Armory source to use this other magic word only for the node then build yourself to get it to work with newer ABC versions.

i suspected this was the problem all along.

[justmyname]

As one other and Jojo69 suggested I used bitcoin-abc-0.16.1-win64. And it worked just fine.

Maybe not with your operating system.