Add tags, comments, properties to .dat files

DobZombie

hero member

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Merit: 532

Former curator of The Bitcoin Museum

Quote from: alexanderanon on October 26, 2013, 01:08:35 AM

Wallet files must be named "wallet" (.dat) in order for bitcoin to read it on startup, so the few viruses out in the wild searching for obscure virtual currencies will have no problem finding the file, regardless of comment tags. Remotely uploading the file and sending it to the attacker, however, on top of keylogging the encryption key, that's a bit more difficult.

What if when bitcoinqt is run for the first time it asks the user to...
"name your wallet file. Please use a unique file name"

just a thought?

alexanderanon

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Thanks, this looks helpful for Mac users.

I did some more sleuthing for Windows users like myself, and it looks like there are a few options that aren't quite what I was looking for, but are close:

Shell Tools
http://www.moonsoftware.com/shelltools.asp
Relevant feature: "File note", which creates a txt file with duplicate file name for entering in comments.

TagFolder
http://virtual-protect.com/tagfolder.aspx
Features a Windows Explorer shell extension that lets you right click--->tagfolder--->assign tags. Only supported on 32 bit systems.

Elyse
http://silkwoodsoftware.com/index.html
Features an external file manager system based on tagging. Not quite what I was looking for, that is, a tag/comment option that is "sticky" to the file, but maybe this works for some people.

The -wallet= option looks promising, especially if there's an equivalent GUI option (eventually) that eliminates the need to search %APPDATA% and start messing around with renaming wallet.dat's. I think Armory at least lets you add a brief "nickname" tag to a particular wallet.dat, whilst in the Armory GUI. It certainly isn't a critical issue, but in the spirit of making the original bitcoin wallet grandma friendly I think it would be a big step. I know I've already corrupted a few (empty) wallets by accidentally renaming them while bitcoin qt was running. D'oh!

Gavin Andresen

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Chief Scientist

If you're on OSX you can do this:
http://mac.tutsplus.com/tutorials/productivity/how-to-tag-files-and-create-spotlight-comments-on-a-mac/

I don't know if Windows or Linux have a similar way of adding metadata to arbitrary files.

PS: there will be (or maybe is, can't remember when the option was added) a -wallet= option to open up a different .dat file for the wallet.

alexanderanon

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Activity: 210

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Wallet files must be named "wallet" (.dat) in order for bitcoin to read it on startup, so the few viruses out in the wild searching for obscure virtual currencies will have no problem finding the file, regardless of comment tags. Remotely uploading the file and sending it to the attacker, however, on top of keylogging the encryption key, that's a bit more difficult.

frankenmint

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HoneybadgerOfMoney.com Weed4bitcoin.com

hmm maybe im being a negative nancy or skeptic here but that comes off as another vector for which malware could use to copy your wallet.dat and steal your coins.

alexanderanon

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Merit: 100

bump?

alexanderanon

full member

Activity: 210

Merit: 100

I often do this to other types of files, ie. .doc , but it does not seem to be supported on .dat. I am interested in a way to add such details to wallet.dat files in order to organize amongst them. I think this would be very helpful in identifying a wallet.dat file by bitcoin balance or by its designation (cold storage, spending wallet) without having to actually run bitcoin. At least, much better than merely giving the wallet.dat's different file names.

Thoughts?

Topic: Add tags, comments, properties to .dat files (Read 2482 times)