RAM-Reduction & Backup Center Testing (version 0.89.99.16)

[etotheipi]

OK so I am having some difficulty again getting the latest testing branch (0.89.99.6 I believe) to run on Ubuntu 13.10 VM...

I can't actually get past the splash "Armory" splash screen, and I don't think I am throwing any errors, so a bit stuck here... http://imgur.com/CAQNyaD

Here is my logfile http://pastebin.com/hPVigcDn which I don't see anything wrong with. If anyone could offer me some info on how to troubleshoot this I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

Run it with --debug to get more output

[etotheipi]

OK so I am having some difficulty again getting the latest testing branch (0.89.99.6 I believe) to run on Ubuntu 13.10 VM...

I can't actually get past the splash "Armory" splash screen, and I don't think I am throwing any errors, so a bit stuck here... http://imgur.com/CAQNyaD

Here is my logfile http://pastebin.com/hPVigcDn which I don't see anything wrong with. If anyone could offer me some info on how to troubleshoot this I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

Oh, I didn't even look at the log file before responding.  It looks like maybe there's some kind of interactive message that is blocking on the gconftool command (which is used for setting up Armory as your default URI handler).  I wonder if that's it.

Can you open a terminal and run the following command and tell me what it spits out?

Code:

gconftool-2 --get /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/bitcoin/command

[e4xit]

that command returns:

Code:

python /usr/share/armory/ArmoryQt.py %s

here is a pastebin of my --debug log (once it made it past splash screen and I set up a wallet, but it could not leave offline mode and twice it did not make it past splash screen)

python /usr/share/armory/ArmoryQt.py %s

Edit: Damnit, that is of course not a pastebin link, this is what happens when VM and native OS use different copy/paste shortcuts and you use both OSs at the same time early in the morning without checking your work quickly.
Will be able to provide tonight when I am home from work

[e4xit]

Problem is persisting...

Here is my debug output. Note, this is the result of a few (about 3) startup attempts...

http://pastebin.com/AMkcVKJG

[etotheipi]

UPDATE:  0.89.99.8-testing

Windows:  download from my dropbox folder
Linux/OSX:  Checkout the "testing" branch

What's different compared to 0.89.99.5:
--Fixed a major bug which might be responsible for the orphan chain issues.  I'm not sure, because I haven't been able to reliably reproduce it.  But the bug I found could very well cause such issues.  If you had the "Marking Orphan Chain" issues, please try the new version!
--Windows appears to run much faster.  Now it only takes about 50% longer to do its operations compared to the Linux runtimes
--Closing the app in offline mode no longer seg faults
--Issues with uninitialized zero-conf transactions getting into the mempool have been fixed.  This does not fix the zero-conf-disappearing bug (I don't think).  That is still on my list to track down and fix. 
--Zero-conf-disappearing bug:  it is still a problem, but I have put in a fix that should cause it to correct itself on a restart.  If you can reliably reproduce that bug, please tell me if restarting fixes it. 

What's the same:
--Zero-conf-disappearing bug is still there. 
--Restarting Armory in the middle of the original DB build still resets the progress meter.  To be clear:  progress picks up from where it left off, it's just that the meter tells you progress between where it started and the end, instead of the overall progress, so it looks like it restarted.
--I had run into an unrecoverable "Cannot copy partial StoredTx" bug (or something like that).  Unfortunately, I destroyed the DB I had that exposed that bug, so I'll have to go hunting it down again.  Luckily, I got a lot of information about it before I did, so I might be able to hunt it down without catching it in the debugger.

Thanks again to goatpig for all his help in improving the speed on windows, getting the unit tests working on Windows, and getting a full MSVS debugging environment working when running the full app (I used to only be able to debug the pure-C++ unit tests projects, now I can debug a full instance of ArmoryQt).  And about 300 other little things. 

[etotheipi]

I forgot to mention that if you were previously having problems, you might have to start it with " --rebuild" to rebuild the database before the bug fixes become apparent.  Strong possibility you don't have to, but doing a " --rebuild" will also give you a chance to test the new speed in Windows.  Please let me know if it seems faster...

EDIT:  Alternatively, if you don't know what I mean when I say "start with --rebuild", you can just delete the databases directory in the Armory home dir.  It will rebuild the next time you start it.  You can find the databases dir at:

Windows:  C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Armory\databases
Linux:  /home/<user>/.armory/databases

[Dabs]

Still doesn't work at all or even run on my Windows XP SP3 (32 bit) machine. Same errors.

[etotheipi]

Still doesn't work at all or even run on my Windows XP SP3 (32 bit) machine. Same errors.

Okay, I think lack of working on XP is expected.  I don't have the right compiler installed for it.  Maybe goatpig can repeat (for me, but also everyone who might want to compile it) what is needed to build with Windows XP support.  I sounds like it's not hard, I just have to have the right packages installed on my windows machine.   I think.

[goatpig]

Still doesn't work at all or even run on my Windows XP SP3 (32 bit) machine. Same errors.

Okay, I think lack of working on XP is expected.  I don't have the right compiler installed for it.  Maybe goatpig can repeat (for me, but also everyone who might want to compile it) what is needed to build with Windows XP support.  I sounds like it's not hard, I just have to have the right packages installed on my windows machine.   I think.

On a Win Vista+ machine, download and install Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 express and Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 express. Grab the Armory source from Github, open BitcoinArmory.sln from the cppForSwig folder with MSVS2012.

In Build > Configuration Manager, pick Release as the active configuration and Win32 as the active platform.

Lastly, right click the BitcoinArmory_SwigDLL project in the Solution Explorer. Pick Properties at the very bottom. In Configuration Properties > General, change the line Platform Toolset from "Visual Studio 2012 (v110)" to "Visual Studio 2012 - Windows XP (v110_xp)"

Edit

A point I forgot to mention: You need to build every dependency with the winxp toolset, so do this step on every project =P

/Edit

Apply and close the properties window. Press F7 and let it build away. Note: You'll need Python installed in order to build. If you don't want to change path linking in the MSVS project, you'll have to install Python 2.7 in C:\Python27. Obviously you'll need all the Python related packages to run, afterwards.

You'll also need pthread_win32: http://ftp://sourceware.org/pub/pthreads-win32/pthreads-w32-2-9-1-release.zip
Expand this archive in the cppForSwig folder. Don't forget to copy the dll into the same folder as ArmoryQt.py to run.

I'll update the projects to support WinXP and pull request so that Alan can't have an excuse anymore =P

[etotheipi]

Still doesn't work at all or even run on my Windows XP SP3 (32 bit) machine. Same errors.

Hey Dabs, try this out:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1139081/ArmoryTestingReleases/ArmorySetup-0.89.99.8-beta_win32_xp.exe

EDIT:  As for building on Windows, CircusPeanut prepared some instructions.  We have a few Windows guinea pigs testing it out for us right now, so we can iron out the instructions.  We'll post them on the website when we're done.  I'll make sure he adds the steps for WindowsXP to it (it's basically :  download and install VS2012 update 3, then select the vs110_xp toolset).

[etotheipi]

Whoops, I just realized that I didn't build all the projects with the new compiler settings. 

I'm about 10 min late for something, so I'll have to do it right in later this evening.  Sorry about that!

[etotheipi]

Just updated the link above with all sub-projects built with the vs110_xp toolset.  I have no way to test it currently, so I'm looking at Dabs

Here's the link again:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1139081/ArmoryTestingReleases/ArmorySetup-0.89.99.8-beta_win32_xp.exe

[superbit]

I just checked my version and it is 0.88.1, what is the proper procedure to update?  I do have a paper backup created already but it's locked away and ideally I don't need it to update.

[etotheipi]

I just checked my version and it is 0.88.1, what is the proper procedure to update?  I do have a paper backup created already but it's locked away and ideally I don't need it to update.

Just uninstall it from the Control Panel and install the new package.  That's it.  All your wallets and settings will be untouched through an uninstall-reinstall cycle.  And since the beginning of time, Armory has not [yet] modified the wallet design, so all your backups are still good, etc, even if you later go back.

[e4xit]

etotheipi,

I am still hanging on

Code:

2013-10-30 18:59 (INFO) -- armoryengine.py:602 - Executing popen: gconftool-2 --get /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/bitcoin/command

I have to manually close terminal window or otherwise kill the process to end being frozen on the Armory splash screen.
pastebin of log:
http://pastebin.com/L4jhd3RD

The second time starting up to program (nothing changed) I can reach the main "Wallet management" window, and if the first time starting up am prompted to create a new wallet etc., which works fine.

So now I have a wallet, but Armory will not go into online mode, as it says "Bitcoin QT is still running. Armory cannot start until it is closed, would you like Armory to close it for you?"

If I choose 'yes' here, Armory will freeze indefinately.

If I choose no, and manually kill bitcoind using 'top' command in a new terminal window, then wait a bit and then hit "Check again" in Armory, the program will darken as in "it's frozen", and will then have to be killed via the terminal again.
pastebin of log:
http://pastebin.com/LZuUeqMJ

I'm really not sure entirely where I am falling down with this...?

My system specs are:
Ubuntu 13.10 running in VMware Fusion 6.01 (completely fresh install of both, over a completely fresh install of Mavericks GM2)
Latest (testing) build of Armory (version announced 30.10.2013)

Any help, pointers or avenues of exploration to fix these issues much appreciated.

[cp1]

Is there an option to disable the registration for url?  Maybe that could be a temporary workaround for you.

[etotheipi]

Is there an option to disable the registration for url?  Maybe that could be a temporary workaround for you.

I'm not convinced the URL registration is the issue.  It's probably what happens right afterwards.

I see the "bitcoind is no more" message which I don't even remember putting in there, and haven't seen that in log files recently (or ever).  I'll do some digging...

Have you been using (or able to use) Bitcoin-Qt or bitcoind by itself?  This might actually be a Bitcoin-Qt problem.  If you close Armory and run Bitcoin-Qt by itself, does it load and run fine?  Any error messages?   

[e4xit]

I think the "bitcoind is no more" is when I manually close the Armory terminal window.

Now, without changing anything  except deleting  the folder ~ /.armory/ and then re-running 'python ArmoryQt.py --debug' I seem to be reaching the mail "wallet management" window everytime, where it is asking me to creat a new wallet.

Still stuck as it is telling me to close Bitcoin-Qt (except I can see that it has started bitcoind itself in the terminal and there is no Bitcoin-Qt running).

pastebin log of the process with where it is hanging now (without me manually killing bitcoind)
http://pastebin.com/jYeE513k

This was happening also when I did not even have Bitcoin-Qt installed (only bitcoind version 80500 ). I have since installed Bitcoin-Qt v0.8.5.0-gef14a26-beta to see if this would in some way mitigate the error but had no luck.

Again, thanks for helping, but not really sure how to progress from here... The whole install was completely fresh on a fresh VM (which exists solely for the purpose of running Armory) so don't think uninstalling/re-installing would help much...

[goatpig]

Stupid question: are you using a manually edited bitcoin.conf?

[e4xit]

Stupid question: are you using a manually edited bitcoin.conf?

Goatpig, you hero. It was indeed a faulty conf file. Top detective work and shame on me!