Armory - Discussion Thread

[QuantumQrack]

Is it possible to issue command line arguments when using Armory?  Such as "bitcoind listunspent"?

[exponential]

Is there anywhere I can see an example of a Wallet being restored from the paper backup?

Here is demo that I did for a user:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTwbc3fJsEg

At minute 29 we get into restoring from a backup.

There is quite a bit of content on this video although it's just an unedited google hangout so the quality is not so great.

I am concerned about usb key security (I am ultra paranoid).

Currently the safest method for transferring unsigned&signed transactions is to type it by hand into the computers, right? Now I am asking myself if I can loose my Bitcoins when I have a typo in my transaction plaintext (which is very likely) or does Armory check the file integrity and I just need to check the transaction details Armory brings up to me.

Or should I better wait for your audio transfer feature? (So awesome!)

The audio transfer feature is 1 or 2 releases away, so you might have to wait a little while.

A USB key is reasonably safe if you only use it for only this purpose on only one online computer.

If you go with manual entry that is the safest although most inconvenient. You do not have to worry about losing your bitcoins. You will have a chance to verify and double check the receiving addresses and amounts before you broadcast your transaction. If you took the time to type it all out, you can take the time to double check the receiving addresses and amounts.

Thank You very much.  I will also try it myself as Armory has just finished installing

[KS]

@Alan:

Since you already have the possibility to generate QR codes for paper backup of wallets, would it be possible to implement a feature to print/print to screen a QR code with the offline wallet transaction's data so it could be imported elsewhere easily (and be less prone to input errors)?

[CircusPeanut]

Is it possible to issue command line arguments when using Armory?  Such as "bitcoind listunspent"?

Yes, but you have to use armoryd (Amory Daemon) rather than the Armory application.

To run the Armory Daemon:

Build Armory from source code following instructions here: https://bitcoinarmory.com/download/building-armory-from-source/

You also need txjsonrpc from here: https://github.com/oubiwann/txjsonrpc

You can just clone it and put the directory right into BitcoinArmory

To play with it open a command line interface and enter:

python armoryd --testnet <path to testnet wallet>

Open another command line interface and send commands to it like this:

python armoryd.py --testnet listunspent

[GoHskrs]

etotheipi and team, thanks for creating such an awesome and secure client!

My installation might actually be a bit below memory specifications, and may run slower than others', but it does work. The online machine has 4GB RAM, running 32-bit Linux (Fedora 20, upgraded using fedup from 17 -> 18 -> 19 -> 20). My two redundant offline machines, which are identical, are 455MHz Pentium III boxes with 256MB RAM, running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and the Armory offline bundle.  (I tried to install Ubuntu 12.04.3 on the offline boxes, without success. I installed Ubuntu from CD, and one of the machines apparently has a defective CD-ROM drive, resulting in a 40-hour install that ultimately succeeded -- luckily, there were no blackouts during those 40 hours, and the cats didn't unplug the machine ... 8^)

When I instantiated the second offline machine, I used only the paper wallet backup from the first offline machine to recover my wallet, and (of course) it worked like a champ. That was my own exercise in making sure this stuff really does work -- and it does!

[etotheipi]

etothepi and team, thanks for creating such an awesome and secure client!

My installation might actually be a bit below memory specifications, and may run slower than others', but it does work. The online machine has 4GB RAM, running 32-bit Linux (Fedora 20, upgraded using fedup from 17 -> 18 -> 19 -> 20). My two redundant offline machines, which are identical, are 455MHz Pentium III boxes with 256MB RAM, running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and the Armory offline bundle.  (I tried to install Ubuntu 12.04.3 on the offline boxes, without success. I installed Ubuntu from CD, and one of the machines apparently has a defective CD-ROM drive, resulting in a 40-hour install that ultimately succeeded -- luckily, there were no blackouts during those 40 hours, and the cats didn't unplug the machine ... 8^)

When I instantiated the second offline machine, I used only the paper wallet backup from the first offline machine to recover my wallet, and (of course) it worked like a champ. That was my own exercise in making sure this stuff really does work -- and it does!

Thanks for the positive feedback!   Understandably, most people post and communicate with us when things don't work, and it's not a high priority to contact us when it does work.  It makes me feel like it doesn't work for anyone, even though it obviously does -- we had more than 20k downloads last month...and less than 20,000 nasty emails     So, it feels good to hear a success story occasionally.


Just an update on the new version:  I decided there was a new feature I wanted integrated that was too good to wait for the next version.  So I pushed this next round of testing back a couple weeks while we iron this out, which also gives us more time for some internal testing.  Hope to have it finished by mid next week!

[GoHskrs]

Thanks for the positive feedback!   Understandably, most people post and communicate with us when things don't work, and it's not a high priority to contact us when it does work.  It makes me feel like it doesn't work for anyone, even though it obviously does -- we had more than 20k downloads last month...and less than 20,000 nasty emails     So, it feels good to hear a success story occasionally.

You're welcome, and please consider this an implicit plea not to discontinue the offline bundle for Ubuntu 10.04.

[justusranvier]

Thanks for the positive feedback!   Understandably, most people post and communicate with us when things don't work, and it's not a high priority to contact us when it does work.  It makes me feel like it doesn't work for anyone, even though it obviously does -- we had more than 20k downloads last month...and less than 20,000 nasty emails     So, it feels good to hear a success story occasionally.

The 0.91-dev branch on GitHub works for me well enough that I use it as my primary wallet.

[etotheipi]

Thanks for the positive feedback!   Understandably, most people post and communicate with us when things don't work, and it's not a high priority to contact us when it does work.  It makes me feel like it doesn't work for anyone, even though it obviously does -- we had more than 20k downloads last month...and less than 20,000 nasty emails     So, it feels good to hear a success story occasionally.

The 0.91-dev branch on GitHub works for me well enough that I use it as my primary wallet.

Although I wouldn't normally recommend this, I think it's no so bad to do that as long as it's your online computer with watching-only wallets.  Anything stupid that the online computer does will be caught by the offline computer (as long as you actually check all the transaction details before continuing).

Of course, I may be neglecting some corner case situation, so I still wouldn't put an official endorsement behind it.  But having a stable version that does the reviewing and signing certainly reduces the risk considerably.  (but definitely don't use it for your offline computer yet, unless it's tiny amounts of money)

[justusranvier]

Although I wouldn't normally recommend this, I think it's no so bad to do that as long as it's your online computer with watching-only wallets.  Anything stupid that the online computer does will be caught by the offline computer (as long as you actually check all the transaction details before continuing).

Of course, I may be neglecting some corner case situation, so I still wouldn't put an official endorsement behind it.  But having a stable version that does the reviewing and signing certainly reduces the risk considerably.  (but definitely don't use it for your offline computer yet, unless it's tiny amounts of money)

Yeah, I think I still use 0.88 on the offline computer because the risk/reward of updating the offline machine isn't favorable.

I thought maybe I should add a "don't try this at home" disclaimer to my other post, but on the other hand I think anyone capable of using git can make their own risk analysis.

[shadowandlight]

Cannot get Armory to sync, any tips? It Freezes at 99% and has set there for days

I've tried every solution I can find so far:

-Rescan Database
-Rebuild and Rescan Database
-Ensured my PC time was synced with time.windows.com

So far nothing ive been doing has worked, the database refuses to finish.

Any ideas? I'm locked out of my wallet!

http://pastebin.com/jaHwF8tQ

heres some of the bottom of the log file, its quite large though

[cp1]

What does it say in the log file?

[shadowandlight]

http://pastebin.com/jaHwF8tQ

heres some of the bottom of the log file, its quite large though

[etotheipi]

By the way, I am not posting the next testing version for a couple days, but it would be stellar if someone with a fresh Raspberry Pi could test the Raspbian build I posted a couple weeks ago.  I don't need a full report on functionality, etc... just want to know if I got the dependencies right and if it runs at all on a fresh Raspbian install.  I'm not very confident that it will, but I'm ready to be surprised!

https://s3.amazonaws.com/bitcoinarmory-releases/armory_0.90.99-testing_rpibuild.tar.gz

[TheSmo]

Is the Armory team intetested in feedback of total noobs or is it the target audience more the advanced users?

[redphlegm]

I apologize if this is answered elsewhere but my Google powers failed me today apparently. I'm curious how, in a watch-only scenario where there is an offline client running used to sign transactions, the watch-only version of Armory generates new addresses when you select "receive bitcoin" for a new address? Aren't the public keys derived from the private keys? How are the public keys able to be generated if (as I understand it) all of the signing / encryption happens on the offline machine?

[etotheipi]

I apologize if this is answered elsewhere but my Google powers failed me today apparently. I'm curious how, in a watch-only scenario where there is an offline client running used to sign transactions, the watch-only version of Armory generates new addresses when you select "receive bitcoin" for a new address? Aren't the public keys derived from the private keys? How are the public keys able to be generated if (as I understand it) all of the signing / encryption happens on the offline machine?

Search for "Type 2 deterministic wallets".  You'll find it

[etotheipi]

Is the Armory team intetested in feedback of total noobs or is it the target audience more the advanced users?

We are interested in the feedback, though we are already aware that there is a large learning curve, and barrier to entry for the app.  We are working on ironing out the current state to make sure it is the best thing out there for the power-users, and now that we have a real team, we can devote resources to making an easier-to-user version.

With that in mind, feel free to provide feedback.  Just don't be surprised when I inundate you with a list of things already in the woodwork to address most of it

[MoneypakTrader.com]

Why don't you update the site?
Always annoying to see developers refuse to disclose changes into their changelog. . .
https://bitcoinarmory.com/download/changelog-versions/
https://bitcoinarmory.com/download/updates-latest-commits/

[jaebird]

By the way, I am not posting the next testing version for a couple days, but it would be stellar if someone with a fresh Raspberry Pi could test the Raspbian build I posted a couple weeks ago.  I don't need a full report on functionality, etc... just want to know if I got the dependencies right and if it runs at all on a fresh Raspbian install.  I'm not very confident that it will, but I'm ready to be surprised!

https://s3.amazonaws.com/bitcoinarmory-releases/armory_0.90.99-testing_rpibuild.tar.gz

Armory launched on my raspberry pi with default raspbian (2014-01-07-wheezy-raspbian). I only needed to install the following packages:

python-psutil
python-qt4
python-twisted

Things I did:

1. Launch!
2. Create new wallet
3. click around the app