Armory - Discussion Thread

[RoloTonyBrownTown]

I'm just plucking up enough courage to transfer my entire savings balance over to Armory (right now it's inside an encrypted Truecrypt file, on an encrypted disk, such a PITA when I want to spend something).    It's not a massive amount (close to 200BTC, I've been a bit spend happy lately ), but more than I'd like to lose.

The silly thing is I know it'll be fine, and I have paper backups should something go wrong, but there's always that little niggle telling me to wait

[etotheipi]

I'm just plucking up enough courage to transfer my entire savings balance over to Armory (right now it's inside an encrypted Truecrypt file, on an encrypted disk, such a PITA when I want to spend something).    It's not a massive amount (close to 200BTC, I've been a bit spend happy lately ), but more than I'd like to lose.

The silly thing is I know it'll be fine, and I have paper backups should something go wrong, but there's always that little niggle telling me to wait

Rolo, don't rush yourself.  If your coins are already offline, you are in no hurry to switch.  But arguably, you are right:  you have a paper backup, what could go wrong? 

The best thing thing to do is delete the offline wallet and restore from paper backup.  It'll calm your nerves a bit, knowing that you are using the exact same wallet you'd be using if something went wrong and you had to restore again (but they are the same, I promise).  And also load the offline wallet and online wallet and generate about a dozen addresses on each.  Verify that the generated addresses are the same.  Once you see that, hopefully that that niggle will go away.

Then as extra credit, move a couple BTC to it, and transfer 0.1 BTC to yourself a couple times using the USB key.   Even though I wrote the program, it still felt a little bit like magic that it works.  But it's easy to get used to

[cypherdoc]

given today's Linode heists of Slush, Gavin, and Zhou i predict Armory is going to enjoy great success.

[etotheipi]

given today's Linode heists of Slush, Gavin, and Zhou i predict Armory is going to enjoy great success.

Yeah, I noticed that today, though I haven't been following the discussion.  I noticed slush using the term "cold storage," which probably refers to some custom-scripted offline wallet solution.  I wonder if I should somehow tie in the phrase "cold storage" into the Armory description:  I assume it's the same thing...

[RoloTonyBrownTown]

I'm just plucking up enough courage to transfer my entire savings balance over to Armory (right now it's inside an encrypted Truecrypt file, on an encrypted disk, such a PITA when I want to spend something).    It's not a massive amount (close to 200BTC, I've been a bit spend happy lately ), but more than I'd like to lose.

The silly thing is I know it'll be fine, and I have paper backups should something go wrong, but there's always that little niggle telling me to wait

Rolo, don't rush yourself.  If your coins are already offline, you are in no hurry to switch.  But arguably, you are right:  you have a paper backup, what could go wrong? 

The best thing thing to do is delete the offline wallet and restore from paper backup.  It'll calm your nerves a bit, knowing that you are using the exact same wallet you'd be using if something went wrong and you had to restore again (but they are the same, I promise).  And also load the offline wallet and online wallet and generate about a dozen addresses on each.  Verify that the generated addresses are the same.  Once you see that, hopefully that that niggle will go away.

Then as extra credit, move a couple BTC to it, and transfer 0.1 BTC to yourself a couple times using the USB key.   Even though I wrote the program, it still felt a little bit like magic that it works.  But it's easy to get used to

I went for the reckless approach and just transferred it straight over     I feel....liberated

[cypherdoc]

given today's Linode heists of Slush, Gavin, and Zhou i predict Armory is going to enjoy great success.

Yeah, I noticed that today, though I haven't been following the discussion.  I noticed slush using the term "cold storage," which probably refers to some custom-scripted offline wallet solution.  I wonder if I should somehow tie in the phrase "cold storage" into the Armory description:  I assume it's the same thing...

yeah, cold=offline.

eto, will Armory's offline main wallet run on Windows Vista?

[etotheipi]

given today's Linode heists of Slush, Gavin, and Zhou i predict Armory is going to enjoy great success.

Yeah, I noticed that today, though I haven't been following the discussion.  I noticed slush using the term "cold storage," which probably refers to some custom-scripted offline wallet solution.  I wonder if I should somehow tie in the phrase "cold storage" into the Armory description:  I assume it's the same thing...

yeah, cold=offline.

eto, will Armory's offline main wallet run on Windows Vista?

I don't have a Vista machine on which to test it... in fact I forgot that Vista even existed!   I would really love it if someone with a Vista 64 machine would test it, because I have no idea!

I went for the reckless approach and just transferred it straight over    I feel....liberated

Congrats!  Please let me know how it works out for you, and especially if there's anything I can do to improve the interface.  And don't forget that you can append donations to offline wallet transactions, too

[etotheipi]

I just released version 0.55 (final).  It can be found at http://bitcoinarmory.com/index.php/get-armory.  The only difference (from RC2) is a proactive security upgrade to the message signing.  But it was something that probably couldn't be exploited, anyway, so it's not critical if you are already operating with 0.55-RC2.

I noticed recently that some of my transacations are failing to be acknowledged by Armory, but do actually end up in the blockchain.  I witnessed the same thing when I went back to 0.55-RC1, so it's clearly not a completely fresh bug.  But I'm going out of town for a week, and it appears that Armory transactions still work: you will just get an error message, followed by seeing the transaction show up in the next block.   If this really bugs you, you can go back to Armory version 0.51.  Or maybe I'm the only person seeing it...?  I will investigate further in a week!

[Red Emerald]

This client is beautiful.  The descriptions for what everything is and how to do things are built right into the application.  Best Desktop UI I think I've ever seen.  Great work!

I can't wait to setup my offline system!

[cypherdoc]

I'm just plucking up enough courage to transfer my entire savings balance over to Armory (right now it's inside an encrypted Truecrypt file, on an encrypted disk, such a PITA when I want to spend something).    It's not a massive amount (close to 200BTC, I've been a bit spend happy lately ), but more than I'd like to lose.

The silly thing is I know it'll be fine, and I have paper backups should something go wrong, but there's always that little niggle telling me to wait

Rolo, don't rush yourself.  If your coins are already offline, you are in no hurry to switch.  But arguably, you are right:  you have a paper backup, what could go wrong? 

The best thing thing to do is delete the offline wallet and restore from paper backup.  It'll calm your nerves a bit, knowing that you are using the exact same wallet you'd be using if something went wrong and you had to restore again (but they are the same, I promise).  And also load the offline wallet and online wallet and generate about a dozen addresses on each.  Verify that the generated addresses are the same.  Once you see that, hopefully that that niggle will go away.

Then as extra credit, move a couple BTC to it, and transfer 0.1 BTC to yourself a couple times using the USB key.   Even though I wrote the program, it still felt a little bit like magic that it works.  But it's easy to get used to

I went for the reckless approach and just transferred it straight over     I feel....liberated

you should be ok. from my limited testing i haven't found any serious bugs.

[etotheipi]

This client is beautiful.  The descriptions for what everything is and how to do things are built right into the application.  Best Desktop UI I think I've ever seen.  Great work!

I can't wait to setup my offline system!

Red Emerald, thanks so much.  I like to think I am good at UI design, and I definitely have a high level of patience to polish everything,  catch every error,  and warn users about potentially stupid actions :-)  etc..
 
Maybe you could repeat that comment on my crowdfunding page...? :-)   It would give it a nice bump,  and I will modify the description to include the phrase "cold-storage. "  it sounds like "Bringing cold storage to the regular user" would be a much better marketing slogan than "offline wallets" and then having to describe what they are...  It sounds like slush saved himself a lot of money using cold-storage, so it makes a lot of sense to point out that's what Armory gives you...

[etotheipi]

I just downloaded Armory to start using offline transactions. I have a question(s), sorry if it has been asked already. I tried browsing the entire thread first, but it's a large thread!

I keep my Bitcoin data folder in a non-typical location. Will this affect how Armory works? I've started Armory and it says "offline" in the bottom right corner. What does "offline" mean and how do I go "online"?

I sent a Bitcoin to my new Armory address, and apparently Armory sees it, but only under balance in wallet properties. I don't see any transactions or unconfirmed funds. Does this have something to do with being "offline"?

I always have bitcoind running for P2Pool mining.

Sounds like there's a lot of little problems here.  Armory will probably go into offline mode of it can't find the blockchain maintained by bitcoind.  However I intended to put in a CLI option for specifying the dir holding the blockchain if it's not standard.   I don't remember if I ever implemented it,  and I'm on my phone right now not in a position to check.  But you can check yourself by going to the github project page and searchingfor "optparse" in Armory.py.   

As for the other issue,  I bet that you did not mark the wallet as your own.  Is the wallet identified on the main screen with a standard white background or with the dark blue?  Does it say "Watch-Only",  or "Offline"?  My guess is that it isn't marked as belonging to you,  and the default filter on the mainstream is set to "My Wallets. "  you can change the filter on the bottom left of the main screen to "All Wallets" which will start including "watch-only" wallets. 

To avoid this in the future,  click on the "Belongs to:" field in wallet properties and check the checbox.  The wallet will then appear with dark blue background and it's balance will be included in your main balance.

As for why it shows offline,  I'm not totally sure without more info.  My guess is that it's the lack of blockchain,  even though it's technically connected to bitcoind.

[RoloTonyBrownTown]

Hi etotheipi,

Quick UI bug.   If you select the "Receive Bitcoins" button, but then press cancel on the "This is not your wallet" warning, it just pops up a big empy grey box that covers the UI

[etotheipi]

Holliday,  the primary issue is that the blockchain is not being loaded.   I think all other problems will clear up when you get that.

Also, when you import a watching-only wallet, it will default to not being yours.  This is to prevent an inexperienced user from being persuaded to import someone else's wallet and believing the money is their own.

So,  once you import the watching only wallet,  you have to go into the wallet properties and change the belongs-to field.   I thought I had that in the instructions... I will add a pop-up windows for when you import a watching-only wallet, that asks whether it is yours,  or that this step can be skipped entirely.

Since I'm not in a position to check whether the is a blkdir option, maybe someone else who doesn't mind looking at the python code could check for me and report back.   I honestly can't remember if I implemented it!  If not,  then you'll have to put your bitcoin dir back to default,  or wait a couple days for me to get access to a development system and commit a fix :-(

[etotheipi]

I'm in no rush to figure this out, I'm just trying to learn this new client, because I can see that it will be my primary client in the future. Perhaps I'll do some testing on a different machine that isn't mining on P2Pool. 

Holliday,  this is actually an interesting topic,  since I haven't dealt much with P2Pool.   Is there a reason that you have to run the server from a non-default location?   Is this going to be common among all P2Pool users?   Does the P2Pool server behave like a regular instance of Bitcoind?   I most definitely want to accommodate setups like this that I don't use,  but a lot of other people do.

I thought you said you were setting up an offline wallet,  so I was jumping ahead of you there... Definitely get you blk0001.dat file in the right place,  and this will go *a lot* smoother :-)  I'll check on the command line options,  later

[fornit]

just looked at the code, there is no such option, you can only specify a path for the armory settings file.

[Red Emerald]

Does the P2Pool server behave like a regular instance of Bitcoind?   I most definitely want to accommodate setups like this that I don't use,  but a lot of other people do.

P2Pool just uses Bitcoin's RPC.  It only deals with mining coins, nothing for wallets or any of that.

It sounds like just allowing the bitcoin data directory to be passed as a flag or put in a settings file would be enough to get everything working in non-standard setups.

[fornit]

I just downloaded Armory to start using offline transactions. I have a question(s), sorry if it has been asked already. I tried browsing the entire thread first, but it's a large thread!

I keep my Bitcoin data folder in a non-typical location. Will this affect how Armory works? I've started Armory and it says "offline" in the bottom right corner. What does "offline" mean and how do I go "online"?

I sent a Bitcoin to my new Armory address, and apparently Armory sees it, but only under balance in wallet properties. I don't see any transactions or unconfirmed funds. Does this have something to do with being "offline"?

Sounds like there's a lot of little problems here.  Armory will probably go into offline mode of it can't find the blockchain maintained by bitcoind.  However I intended to put in a CLI option for specifying the dir holding the blockchain if it's not standard.   I don't remember if I ever implemented it,  and I'm on my phone right now not in a position to check.  But you can check yourself by going to the github project page and searchingfor "optparse" in Armory.py.   

i just looked into it and its like this when you have a different datadir:
no matter if the bitcoin client is running or not you end up with an armory client in offline mode, a wallet balance of "(...)" and -1 satoshi funds.
the armoryengine function for loading the blockchain already has a parameter for the path, armory is just lacking that one line in the optparse section + another line to pass the parameter along.
just tested it and it works like a charm 

[Kluge]

Is it possible to disable 2+ confirmation requirement and reduce it to the single confirmation req'd by Satoshi client? I trust the transactor's tx is valid. Keep thinking I only need one confirmation, then when I try to send, Armory declares tx invalid.

It could also be I'm mis-observing what's happening and am actually experiencing what etotheipi described earlier, given I'm using .55.


Cheers!


ETA: Yeah, pretty sure I'm experiencing the same thing as e-pi. Noticed it did go through, just not displayed in Armory.

[etotheipi]

i just looked into it and its like this when you have a different datadir:
no matter if the bitcoin client is running or not you end up with an armory client in offline mode, a wallet balance of "(...)" and -1 satoshi funds.
the armoryengine function for loading the blockchain already has a parameter for the path, armory is just lacking that one line in the optparse section + another line to pass the parameter along.
just tested it and it works like a charm  

Fornit, I see you're learning quickly    Unfortunately, now that I'm distributing full binaries, I cannot just push new .py files, I have to do a full recompile and re-distribution of binaries.  So it sounds like Holliday is going to have to wait.  What a great time to leave town for a week!  

Is it possible to disable 2+ confirmation requirement and reduce it to the single confirmation req'd by Satoshi client? I trust the transactor's tx is valid. Keep thinking I only need one confirmation, then when I try to send, Armory declares tx invalid.

It could also be I'm mis-observing what's happening and am actually experiencing what etotheipi described earlier, given I'm using .55.

Cheers!

ETA: Yeah, pretty sure I'm experiencing the same thing as e-pi. Noticed it did go through, just not displayed in Armory.

Yeah, the requirement is 1+ confirmation for tx from other people, 0 confirmations for change-back-to-self outputs.  It appears that I did introduce a bug recently, and now I'm out and won't be able to attend to it for a week  Glad to hear it's still usable, at least...

PS what OS are you in that you experience the same problems?