[ANNOUNCE] Electrum - Lightweight Bitcoin Client

[btcven]

Is there a feature roadmap for Electrum? What's in the pipeline?

I believe the most pressing things to be done for Electrum to be widely adopted is good documentation and tutorials, and a sexier GUI. Is there any work being done on that currently?

Also, how many developers are there? I only ever see ThomasV here. Is this a one-man effort?
I would hate to see the project abandoned at some point...
 

Anyone can help with the Documentation and Tutorials using GitHub https://github.com/ecdsa/electrum-web

People can also join #electrum on Freenode where devs are almost always.

When some spare time for the devs is found some UI improvements will be addressed.

You can start with suggestions in this skin for the Classic GUI I'm working on http://d.pr/i/8Ge5

[1714290526]

1714290526

[1714290526]

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[ThomasV]

Is there a feature roadmap for Electrum? What's in the pipeline?

I believe the most pressing things to be done for Electrum to be widely adopted is good documentation and tutorials, and a sexier GUI. Is there any work being done on that currently?

Also, how many developers are there? I only ever see ThomasV here. Is this a one-man effort?
I would hate to see the project abandoned at some point...
 

Here is what is in the pipeline:
 - the GUI will soon have a menubar. there are so many functions in Electrum now that we kind of need it. Animazing is working on it.
 - A multisig service that will provide two-factor authentication using p2sh addresses.
 - BIP 32 and multiple accounts. I believe BIP32 will be finalized soon, and a bip32 compatible version of Electrum will follow shortly.
 - user atweiden is working on a kivy GUI for Android devices.
 - "ultimate blockchain compression" as described here. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=88208.0;topicseen
I have been working on that for several weeks, even though this is not visible on the client side.
A first version is already implemented, but it is still too slow and needs to be optimized.

[SebastianJu]

Is there a feature roadmap for Electrum? What's in the pipeline?

I believe the most pressing things to be done for Electrum to be widely adopted is good documentation and tutorials, and a sexier GUI. Is there any work being done on that currently?

Also, how many developers are there? I only ever see ThomasV here. Is this a one-man effort?
I would hate to see the project abandoned at some point...
 

Here is what is in the pipeline:
 - the GUI will soon have a menubar. there are so many functions in Electrum now that we kind of need it. Animazing is working on it.
 - A multisig service that will provide two-factor authentication using p2sh addresses.
 - BIP 32 and multiple accounts. I believe BIP32 will be finalized soon, and a bip32 compatible version of Electrum will follow shortly.
 - user atweiden is working on a kivy GUI for Android devices.
 - "ultimate blockchain compression" as described here. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=88208.0;topicseen
I have been working on that for several weeks, even though this is not visible on the client side.
A first version is already implemented, but it is still too slow and needs to be optimized.

2FA... nice... higher security is a good thing...

Im not sure if its included in your list but what about multiple transaction in one transaction? Ift could save time and fee if possible. Maybe even with a function to import a csv?

[tigereye]

Another change that was recently merged (but may not make it out the door) is a feature I've dubbed TxQR.

It's a modification to slush's QRCode plugin that allows you to both display and read unsigned and signed transactions via QR. It basically duplicates the existing "Save unsigned transaction" "sign transaction" "broadcast transaction" workflow between seedless and seeded wallets but with QRCodes instead.

This allows you to have two instances of Electrum communicate with each other without the risk of spreading malware between the two using a USB key.

I don't know when the Electrum maintainers plan on pushing this change out in an official release, but the code is there (pull request 227) for you to test.

Enjoy,

[RoxxR]

Another change that was recently merged (but may not make it out the door) is a feature I've dubbed TxQR.

It's a modification to slush's QRCode plugin that allows you to both display and read unsigned and signed transactions via QR. It basically duplicates the existing "Save unsigned transaction" "sign transaction" "broadcast transaction" workflow between seedless and seeded wallets but with QRCodes instead.

This allows you to have two instances of Electrum communicate with each other without the risk of spreading malware between the two using a USB key.

I don't know when the Electrum maintainers plan on pushing this change out in an official release, but the code is there (pull request 227) for you to test.

Enjoy,

Nice. But does a transaction always fit into a single QR code?

[tigereye]

Most of the time, yes.
But no, not all of the time.

The QRCode needs to display the JSON output of a mktx call. It looks like this:

Code:

{
    "complete": false, 
    "hex": "010000000296f054a6eccd3051444aec20e9c5c9b58739e70c7d958e4eb03587acf99d02e70000000000ffffffffdf350752fe6e27534633bb59327d9feb347756fe8d6e5b0b56312aca57df0eb30000000000ffffffff02f4345c35000000001976a914aaf437e25805f288141bfcdc27887ee5492bd13188ac80969800000000001976a91481acc8b7f9ec7cbf45a02dd8b758c6ac6a1481ca88ac00000000", 
    "input_info": "[{'scriptPubKey':'76a91411bbdc6e3a27c44644d83f783ca7df3bdc2778e688ac','electrumKeyID':(15,False),'vout':0,'txid':u'e7029df9ac8735b04e8e957d0ce73987b5c9c5e920ec4a445130cdeca654f096'},{'scriptPubKey':'76a914aaf437e25805f288141bfcdc27887ee5492bd13188ac','electrumKeyID':(112,True),'vout':0,'txid':u'b30edf57ca2a31560b5b6e8dfe567734eb9f7d3259bb334653276efe520735df'}]"
}

The type of QRcode that displays transactions supports up to 4296 bytes.
For reference, the above is 751 bytes.

4296 bytes should be enough to display the vast majority of transactions created from a reasonable amount of inputs, but you're right there's still a limitation.
If the QRCode can't be displayed, the user can still save the transaction as a file and move it across with a USB key using the traditional method.

[Michael_S]

one could split the string into two substrings and generate two QR codes!

[dermo]

Hi,
Have an issue with Electrum v1.7.4
3 transactions are pending since 2 days
When I try to change the server it say synchronizing but stuck

Plz help me lot of money in the wind:(

Thanks in advance

[btcven]

Hi,
Have an issue with Electrum v1.7.4
3 transactions are pending since 2 days
When I try to change the server it say synchronizing but stuck

Plz help me lot of money in the wind:(

Thanks in advance

Restart the client, change servers again.

[ThomasV]

version 1.8 is available (sources only)

changes:
* Menubar in classic gui
* Updated the QR Code plugin to enable offline/online wallets to transmit unsigned/signed transactions via QR code.
* Fixed bug where never-confirmed transactions prevented further spending

[Tacticat]

Thank you for the new release! It's awesome.

Now that the QT client recommends a 0.0001 fee, could electrum go back to do the same? The sooner we all switch to the lower fee, the sooner miners will include it in new blocks as frequently as they did with the previous 0.0005 fee.

[dermo]

version 1.8 is available (sources only)

changes:
* Menubar in classic gui
* Updated the QR Code plugin to enable offline/online wallets to transmit unsigned/signed transactions via QR code.
* Fixed bug where never-confirmed transactions prevented further spending

Can I compile a portable version from the source ?

[ThomasV]

Can I compile a portable version from the source ?

if you know how to do, yes. but I guess official binaries should be available today.

[ThomasV]

Now that the QT client recommends a 0.0001 fee, could electrum go back to do the same? The sooner we all switch to the lower fee, the sooner miners will include it in new blocks as frequently as they did with the previous 0.0005 fee.

yes, I will do that.

[Tacticat]

Now that the QT client recommends a 0.0001 fee, could electrum go back to do the same? The sooner we all switch to the lower fee, the sooner miners will include it in new blocks as frequently as they did with the previous 0.0005 fee.

yes, I will do that.

Thank you!

May I ask a question about the future of electrum?

Considering that it is becoming increasingly popular and given its advantages over Bitcoin-Qt, would you consider implementing an optional "full node" mode?

That way people who can afford the sync time and HDD space, could still use electrum and help the network with a full node.

[ThomasV]

Now that the QT client recommends a 0.0001 fee, could electrum go back to do the same? The sooner we all switch to the lower fee, the sooner miners will include it in new blocks as frequently as they did with the previous 0.0005 fee.

yes, I will do that.

Thank you!

May I ask a question about the future of electrum?

Considering that it is becoming increasingly popular and given its advantages over Bitcoin-Qt, would you consider implementing an optional "full node" mode?

That way people who can afford the sync time and HDD space, could still use electrum and help the network with a full node.

the Electrum client will not be a full node, but you can start your own Electrum server (public or private) if you want to use Electrum without relying on an external server.

I am currently working on the hash tree of addresses, aka "ultimate blockchain compression" proposed by etotheipi.
This will be added to the code of Electrum servers and provide an extra layer of security.

[dermo]

Is there a feature roadmap for Electrum? What's in the pipeline?

I believe the most pressing things to be done for Electrum to be widely adopted is good documentation and tutorials, and a sexier GUI. Is there any work being done on that currently?

Also, how many developers are there? I only ever see ThomasV here. Is this a one-man effort?
I would hate to see the project abandoned at some point...
 

Anyone can help with the Documentation and Tutorials using GitHub https://github.com/ecdsa/electrum-web

People can also join #electrum on Freenode where devs are almost always.

When some spare time for the devs is found some UI improvements will be addressed.

You can start with suggestions in this skin for the Classic GUI I'm working on http://d.pr/i/8Ge5

I like ur GUI, great job !

A direct link to the blockchain for transactions ID will be wonderful as well

Bug report v1.8: the balance column in receive tab is always hidden at start

[dermo]

Found this on google : http://download.electrum.org/

Scam ?

Have lunch the last portable nighlty build in a VM and nothing happen  

https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/3e8892ca0c1464e2ecf0ac8427f1ba7e91d4fbd9775fd32df3b167730a7a40c7/analysis/

[Tachikoma]

Found this on google : http://download.electrum.org/

Scam ?

Have lunch the last portable nighlty build in a VM and nothing happen  

https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/3e8892ca0c1464e2ecf0ac8427f1ba7e91d4fbd9775fd32df3b167730a7a40c7/analysis/

I would call 1 out of 47 a false positive. Slush hosts the binaries since Github stopped offering binary downloads.   

[dermo]

Found this on google : http://download.electrum.org/

Scam ?

Have lunch the last portable nighlty build in a VM and nothing happen  

https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/3e8892ca0c1464e2ecf0ac8427f1ba7e91d4fbd9775fd32df3b167730a7a40c7/analysis/

I would call 1 out of 47 a false positive. Slush hosts the binaries since Github stopped offering binary downloads.  

What is the difference between slush fork and official ?

I don't find the slush repo on Github