Pywallet 2.2: manage your wallet [Update required]

[dserrano5]

I'd like someone to confirm that the new update system works on windows

Code:

'twisted' package is not installed, pywallet web interface can't be launched

Now if installing twisted is a matter of uncompressing some zip file available in the interwebz I can give it a try, but otherwise I don't really want to fight windows. Somebody else e.g. a current pywallet user should have it already installed.

[jackjack]

Yes it's just an exe file to install
PWI 0.0.3 should install all dependencies BTW

But yeah don't worry I think other people with pywallet already installed will try

[Dabs]

Regarding the public key only, I was thinking, what if you don't know the private key, or do not wish to add it (so it is never seen by hardware or software.) That's my point for adding it to wallet.dat with bogus encryption. Watching only.

I will test the suggested method, maybe that will work if you know the private key. But then, why bother when you can importprivkey using the QT client directly?

[jackjack]

Regarding the public key only, I was thinking, what if you don't know the private key, or do not wish to add it (so it is never seen by hardware or software.) That's my point for adding it to wallet.dat with bogus encryption. Watching only.

I will test the suggested method, maybe that will work if you know the private key. But then, why bother when you can importprivkey using the QT client directly?

You're absolutely right, I posted that just to check if bitcoin-qt accepts bogus private keys/encryption
If it works you'll only have to give the public key

[jackjack]

Yep, that works!
I'll make a form to add read-only addresses soon

[Dabs]

This is going to be fun. I can go add someone else's address and monitor their wallets (you can already do this just by looking at blockchain explorers and other apps that access those web hosted blockchains.)

You'd have people uploading random wallet.dat files with non-accessible bitcoins and hackers are going to wasting time trying to crack the encryption, and when they do, it's the wrong password, or the wrong private key.

[jackjack]

I didn't think about this but yeah it can be fun!

I just pushed the new version that can import read-only addresses in encrypted wallets
Tell me how it's going

[Dabs]

1. Back up existing wallet.
2. Close bitcoin-qt.
3. Delete old wallet (it is backed up already.)
4. Open bitcoin-qt, new wallet created. Encrypt wallet with password "testing"
5. Close bitcoin-qt.
6. Download pywallet (PWI_0.0.3.exe)
7. Do the dance, click yes/go/next/i agree/ok/are we there yet?/etc.
7.1 Didn't work yet, need twisted.
8. Download twisted. Installed. (Twisted-13.0.0.win32-py2.7.exe)
9. pywallet.py --datadir=. --web --passphrase=testing
10. Dump. Works.
11. Dump keys. addr,sec. Works. Just what I wanted for paper wallets.
12. hmmmmm.. It needs the public key in 04-hex format? I can't just add it the way I see addresses? in base58 I mean.

I look at https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Technical_background_of_Bitcoin_addresses

And the address testing suite at http://gobittest.appspot.com/Address

It seems I'd need to brute force the 04 public key if all I have is the base58 public key (or bitcoin address.)

Well, at least I get my key list.

[jackjack]

7.1: I'll fix that soon
12: Yes, sadly you need the public key, the address is not enough. You can send a satoshi (or even 0) to the address and look at http://blockexplorer.com/address/1youraddress to find it.

[dserrano5]

You can send a satoshi (or even 0) to the address and look at http://blockexplorer.com/address/1youraddress to find it.

As of 0.7.0, "Transactions with zero-value outputs are considered non-standard". Release notes: http://kent.dl.sourceforge.net/project/bitcoin/Bitcoin/bitcoin-0.7.0/README.txt

The public key is only revealed when spending from an address, so you'd need to send coins to a given address, then spend them again in order to see the public key in blockexplorer.

[jackjack]

You can send a satoshi (or even 0) to the address and look at http://blockexplorer.com/address/1youraddress to find it.

As of 0.7.0, "Transactions with zero-value outputs are considered non-standard". Release notes: http://kent.dl.sourceforge.net/project/bitcoin/Bitcoin/bitcoin-0.7.0/README.txt

Wow I didn't know, thanks

The public key is only revealed when spending from an address, so you'd need to send coins to a given address, then spend them again in order to see the public key in blockexplorer.

Yeah absolutely, I should sleep a bit more I guess
And that would mean that you have the private key in one of your wallets, so it's easier to dump the public key with pywallet or anything else (does the satoshi client do that?)

[jackjack]

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img837/5590/satoshit.png
(May Satoshi excuse that lame filename...)

[Dabs]

oh. okay. I was going to try and import the richest bitcoin addresses. It seems you were able to do that with one of the early blocks? As long as whoever controls that public key has spent anything, then we should be able to get the public key in the format that pywallet needs?

So cold storage addresses are out. But any address that spent anything or ever went online are in.

Will do another experiment later.

[Dabs]

1. Imported a couple of "rich" addresses that had the public key in the blockchain.
2. bitcoin-qt -rescan (this took awhile.)
3. hmmmmm... interesting, I now have a local copy of all the transactions from those "rich" addresses. Of course, I can't spend any of it.





4. Time to add everything I can and create a nice "fat" wallet. (It's easier to just photoshop the pictures if you want to fake 3 million bitcoins.)

[jackjack]

That definitely will be useful (at least for me)
I have a truecrypt'd wallet that I never open

Good news: trying to spend the coins doesn't corrupt the wallet

So cold storage addresses are out.

Nope. You can use a cold PC to 'calculate' the public key from the private key

[Dabs]

That definitely will be useful (at least for me)
I have a truecrypt'd wallet that I never open

Good news: trying to spend the coins doesn't corrupt the wallet

So cold storage addresses are out.

Nope. You can use a cold PC to 'calculate' the public key from the private key

I meant, cold addresses that do not belong to you. (like cold addresses of other people.) If it's yours, of course you have private key and can derive the public key using brainwallet or bitaddress.

Trying to spend coins results in an error. Of course, you don't have the private key.

So there are two uses for this that I see:
1. Watch your own wallet
2. Watch other people's wallet (if they've spent coins already)

Without needing to check on hosted wallets or hosted block chains.

Edit: Having too much fun. I got tired after importing less than 100 addresses:

[jackjack]

Not bad
Not many people seem to be interested though

[Dabs]

People are boring... maybe if I uploaded the wallet.dat file to some public space ... gotta make it look a little interesting. Perhaps the DDoS attacks will stop as "they" will attempt cracking this.

[HanSolo]

Hi! I've tried to use pywallet (current jackjack-jj master) to delete some long unconfirmed transactions from my 0.8.1 wallet.dat, per the instructions at...

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=85689.msg944529#msg944529

After the deletions, the client no longer reports the transactions in 'listtransactions' or 'gettransaction'... so far so good. But, it doesn't seem to have rediscovered the still-unspent old outputs. A launch with '-rescan' didn't help.

Did I miss a step? Does something else about the 0.8.1 indexing need to be reset/rebuilt?

 

[jackjack]

People are boring... maybe if I uploaded the wallet.dat file to some public space ... gotta make it look a little interesting. Perhaps the DDoS attacks will stop as "they" will attempt cracking this.

Sadistic but funny!