MultiBit

[jim618]

Thanks !
I don't think any dev actually enjoys testing but I find the discipline of going through a checklist pretty useful in finding errors and bugs. If they are minor I release it anyway and then look at them later on.

[mila]

... enjoys testing ...

I hated it for the most part. And I could not find any bugs anyway (I wrote code for money around early 2000). I was 'testing' it all the time anyway during development. It was the QA folks who found the errors (and customers ofc). I'm glad to see you pay attention to it and like what I see.

[auberon]

Hi, Jim,

I tried searching this thread to see if anyone has run into the same problem as me and you answered already, but I wasn't able to find anything.  If you've answered a similar question before, I apologize. 

I just recently installed MultiBit, and I tried to send coins for the first time two days ago.  The wallet has the available coins, and according to the transactions log, they were sent (and deducted from my balance), but the transaction has been stuck at "This transaction is not yet confirmed, seen by 1 peer" ever since.  It hasn't yet gone into a chain.

I've tried looking for it in the logs to see if I could debug the issue myself, but I don't see it in them.

I'm on version 0.4.12 and using Ubuntu 12.04 if you need to know that.  I'd appreciate any help you can give.  Thanks!

[jim618]

Hi auberon,

The 'seen by 1 peer' transaction that subsequently does not get on the blockchain within an hour or two can be one of several things. I have tried to cover all the possibilities below.

First of all, download the MultiBit 0.4.13 version that is on the multibit.org site. There are various bug fixes that have gone into the code in the last week.

Secondly, if you have not done it already, do a 'Tools | Export Private Keys' and export your private keys to an encrypted file. This is just to make sure you have a backup of your private keys.


The number of peers that has seen the transaction is useful to determine whether the transaction has:
1) successfully been transmitted to the Bitcoin network
2) the peer that you sent it to 'likes it' and has propagated it to other nodes (ie no double spends etc)

If you see 'seen by 2 peers' or more then you can be pretty sure it is out in the Bitcoin network.
With 'seen by 1 peer' you need to check on it's status manually. Go to the 'Transactions' tab, right click on the transaction, select 'View transaction details' and the 'view at blockchain.info'.

This opens blockchain.info in a browser and searches for your transaction.

If it finds it, see whether it is confirmed or unconfirmed.
If it is confirmed ie on a block, do a 'Tools | Reset blockchain and transactions' for your wallet and the transaction should then appear and be confirmed (as it in the blockchain).

If it is unconfirmed then it means it is still not on a block and you just have to wait. This can be caused by if it is a very small transaction with a very small fee set. If you search on the forum for details on 'bitcoin days' you can find out more about why this happens - it is a Bitcoin network thing rather than a MultiBit thing.

If the transaction is not found then it indicates that the transaction was never sent properly, the transaction never propagated (perhaps a double spend) or some other reason. This needs more information to track down.

I hope this gives you enough to investigate more.

Regards,

Jim

[auberon]

Thanks, Jim.  I've upgraded to 0.4.13, thanks for letting me know it's out there.

Well, I think I've figured out what's going on...to give you a bit more history, I installed MultiBit after being dissatisfied with StrongCoin, the online hybrid ewallet service.  I imported my private key from there to your program, and used the "reset blockchain" function to "move" my coins over.  (I had a discussion in another thread on this forum regarding that problem.)  StrongCoin has been coming up with a certificate expired issue the past several days (and there's yet another thread on this forum regarding THAT) and the bottom line is, I think they've been compromised and the issue is that my transaction looks like a "double send" to the chain.  The reason I think this is because I (fortunately) used a different wallet to import that key, and that's the one I tried to send coins from that created the issue I asked you about.  When I sent coins from my "primary" wallet, they went just fine.

So much for StrongCoin being the "Safest EWallet on the Planet" ...

[jim618]

Glad you have it sorted.

Exporting and importing private keys can be very useful but I must admit I normally just send the coin directly to transfer between wallets.  (Of course if you have a vanity address it is different as you need to keep that particular key).

It is just too easy to convince yourself you are rich when you see coin in several wallets, when in fact it is the SAME coin repeated !

I do not know about StrongCoin's architecture (ie where the private keys are) so cannot comment about your points about it. However if you are in any doubt about your private keys being secure you should move your funds to a newly created private key and not reuse an old one. (ie create a new receiving address in MultiBit and send the funds there). Otherwise anyone who gets access to your private keys can spend your coin in an instant.

Also, whilst it is not quite ready for general release, there is a version of MultiBit with encrypted wallets available at :

[URL]https://github.com/jim618/multibit/downloads[\URL]

Usual provisos about always keep encrypted backups of your private keys apply.

[mila]

could you add to the export list of pvt keys also the address?
I mean, the list shows all keys with a datum but if I want to take the keys and use them separately, i have no idea (I do, but it can be a problem) which key holds what amount/is for which address.
thanks (p.s. at the end of the line behind a comment sign add address, please?)

[jim618]

Hi Mila,

Yes this is on my todo list as sometimes you only want to use particular keys as you mention.
The file format is shared between Android Bitcoin Wallet and MultiBit so the address will have to be on a separate line as a comment (before the private key probably) so as not to affect parsing but that is minor.

[jim618]

In the upcoming 0.5.5 code I have added the automatic export of your private keys to an encrypted file when you:

+ Add encryption to a wallet
+ Change the wallet password
+ Add new receiving addresses (ie create new private keys).

The private key export file is created in the same directory as the wallet as you can see in this screenshot:



The private key export file is encrypted with your wallet password (the new one if you are changing the password).

The idea here is that with a private key backup file you can recreate your wallet if you need to by doing a "Tools | Import Private Keys" (as long as you can remember your wallet password).

edit: You can also decrypt the private key backup files directly on the command line using openssl, as described here:
https://github.com/jim618/multibit/wiki/Export%20and%20limited%20import%20of%20private%20keys

[jim618]

It really needs to be configurable (the only way to keep everybody happy), but it will have to wait with all the other possible UI enhancements.

[jim618]

I just fixed a "unlikely to happen but nasty if it does" bug with the encrypted wallets. There is a particular error path where MultiBit mixes up encrypted and unencrypted wallet types. It is bad as you could lose your encrypted private keys.

Anyhow, a fix has just gone into the v0.5.5 code.
It means that once v0.5.5 has been used you won't be able to read your encrypted wallets with earlier versions of the v0.5.x code.

For those interested, the root cause of the bug was:
1) I added in a mandatory extension to the encrypted wallets so that the unencrypted MultiBit cannot read those wallets.
2) Like an idiot, I then merged the code that recognises the encrypted wallets into the v0.4 code base, undoing everything I had done !

[jim618]

There is now an Arabic translation of MultiBit.
Thanks to all the translators for their efforts.

Screenshot:



It will appear in the next test release (which should be in a couple of days) and then the next live release (which will probably be at the beginning of next week).

[ErebusBat]

Can't wait for the new 0.5.x line to come out

[jim618]

I got MultiBit running on my Raspberry Pi today so I thought I would post some photos:

The overall setup - The RaspPi gets its internet via ethernet from my Mac's 3G dongle:

http://multibit.org/postImages/raspberryTable.jpg

And here is a close up of the screen with a couple of confirmed transactions:

http://multibit.org/postImages/raspberryScreen.jpg


It runs quite slowly (the OpenJDK JRE I am using has no just-in-time compilation) and the installer hangs if you try to set up shortcuts but it works !

:-)

Jim

[Mushroomized]

I got MultiBit running on my Raspberry Pi today so I thought I would post some photos:

The overall setup - The RaspPi gets its internet via ethernet from my Mac's 3G dongle:

http://multibit.org/postImages/raspberryTable.jpg

And here is a close up of the screen with a couple of confirmed transactions:

http://multibit.org/postImages/raspberryScreen.jpg


It runs quite slowly (the OpenJDK JRE I am using has no just-in-time-compilation) and the installer hangs if you try to set up shortcuts but it works !

:-)

Jim

You should make a raspi based "bitcoin vault" client 

[jim618]

It's pretty close.

I think you could lock down the raspi's network access to just port 8333 connections to one or more specific satoshi clients.

Nothing else open.
No installed software - just the fresh Debian install, Java and MultiBit.
Keep it unplugged and in your safe most of the time.

Practically you would also want a watch only wallet on a different machine to see the coin in there. MultiBit does not support these yet (but could with a bit more work). When you want to spend you get it out your safe, connect it up, let it sync and send the coin.

[phelix]

It's pretty close.

I think you could lock down the raspi's network access to just port 8333 connections to one or more specific satoshi clients.

Nothing else open.
No installed software - just the fresh Debian install, Java and MultiBit.
Keep it unplugged and in your safe most of the time.

Practically you would also want a watch only wallet on a different machine to see the coin in there. MultiBit does not support these yet (but could with a bit more work). When you want to spend you get it out your safe, connect it up, let it sync and send the coin.

sweet. I guess this is the closest to a standalone device I have seen so far.

[jim618]

Hi phelix,

Thanks.  The Raspberry Pi is very open and extendable. There is a lot of activity with hobbyists with it.
With basic breadboarding skills you can hook up switches and LCD panels, all manner of stuff.

I mailed out on the bitcoinj mailing list for ideas for builds to use bitcoinj (the code behind MultiBit), a RaspPi and 'Other Stuff' to see what people came up with. If you have any ideas feel free to post.

I maybe can make time to do one RaspPi project but no more than that. The question really is:

What gives the Biggest Bitcoin Bang for your Build ?

:-)

[Mike Hearn]

If there was a GUI based on SWT it could be compiled down to native ARM code using GCJ, that might be a lot faster.

That said, you could as well just serve an HTML UI and have web browsers on a faster computer control it.

[jim618]

Yes there are a few possibilities (used separately or together):

1) strip down the UI to something very simple, perhaps just have a single wallet.
2) have a dedicated display (a little 2x16 LCD for instance I have seen breadboards for)
3) use a remote viewer (VNC, a web server serving HTML, hell: ssh)
4) physical buttons, using the GPIO pins.
5) there is also audio out. I think it probably has enough oomph for basic speech synthesis.

The good thing with the Raspberry Pi hardware platform is that the code for 'we need a wallet, to be able to download the block info, oh we need to send too' is written and working.