Topic: Armory - Discussion Thread - page 181. (Read 521829 times)

Ack!  I'm not sure what happened, but it looks like python 2.7.3 might have some mild differences in the interpreter, causing Armory program to crash Armory is throwing a core dump on 12.04-32bit (2.7.3 is fine).  I'll have to  investigate a bit more before I can release it

Armory development combines every single one of my best skills, and has been an extraordinary learning experience.  I don't want to sound selfish, but I really made Armory for myself...  It just so happens that other people like it, too    

I was not happy with a lack of python interfaces to the Bitcoin network, wallets that have to be backed up regularly, not being able to segregate funds into different wallets, not being able to import keys, lack of wallet encryption (when I started a year ago).  And most of all, I wanted offline wallets without having to execute 37 command-line calls to move the coins.  These were things I knew how to do, and much of it is still sparse in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

I'll have 0.82.1 out soon.  However, much of it is the same as 0.82, I just added logging and version checking (and a few bug fixes).  But it will dramatically improve the bug-report process, to be able to export a log file and send it to me.  Up until now, when someone sees a crash in Windows, there is exactly zero information available for me to figure out what happened.  I figured this was a good feature to get in before Beta, since there will probably be a flurry of new users, and lot of bug reports.

On that note... I know beta has been pushed back and back and back.... but I gotta get it loading faster or else I think a lot of users will be turned off.  Unfortunately, the first load will always be slow, but having to have Bitcoin-Qt open and wait 1-5 minutes is a bit much for some folks.  And once I do it... I'll feel like this is a complete program!

Cool, you really do seem to have a passion to make Armory to be the best! 
I'll give the testing release for windows 0.82.1 a try later this weekend.

Confirmed. python 2.7.3 on Ubuntu 12.04.

Traderjoe,

This is excellent information.  Thanks so much!  If you hadn't mentioned anything, I wouldn't have known that a program exists that matches known vulnerabilities with software you are running.  That's a great idea.  

I was just about to put out a testing release for 0.82.1.  I haven't compiled yet, but I have upgraded the Windows python installation, and will see if I can upgrade Linux python without hosing my system.  Worst case, the Linux versions won't be "patched", but I don't think it is a real issue anyway.  Maybe I can find a VM/OS that has 2.7.3  natively (12.04...?)

Thanks!

UPDATE: Ubuntu 12.04 comes with 2.7.3 by default.  So I'll start compiling my linux versions on that.  Then I don't have to risk breaking my development system!

Thank you very much for deciding to upgrade the python library for the Windows release.  

I didn't totally understand the security advisory either.  But when it says anything about disclose potentially sensitive information, when an app like Armory is using it, not totally understanding the advisory makes me uncomfortable!  

I really like using Secunia PSI (freeware) because it is always finding software with known vulnerabilities from advisories published by the software authors themselves, & a lot of the time, the software doesn't upgrade or the automatic upgrade fails.  I highly recommend it for people using their computers to do bitcoin.

I'm not sure I totally understand this.  The security vulnerabilities seem to be unrelated to any of the python features that Armory is using.  Obviously, I will upgrade, though, before the next release.

I compiled on windows using 2.7.2, and Linux with 2.6.5.  I will upgrade windows to 2.7.3 and release 0.82 with it.  Upgrading python on Linux could be a little tricky/risky... I'm going to have to try it in a VM first

I am receiving a security alert for the python 2.7.2150.1013 library that Armory installed.  Here is the advisory: http://secunia.com/advisories/48347/

Does anybody know how to upgrade the python library my armory is using to 2.7.3 without breaking anything?  (Unless the developer already has done that on the latest release).

Right.  If I see a link I'm suspicious of clicking on, I'll often right-click it, copy, then paste into the browser bar and inspect it before hitting return.  If that's an option with your link then there's no need to write out the URL as well for them - they can just right-click and 'copy link' the same way they would with any other link they wanted to be sure about.

I don't mean that they prefer to copy and paste manually, but that they prefer to know what page/URL they are supposed to go to, and can enter it manually if they want.

Is "right-click > copy link" an option?

I included the URL because many users would prefer to copy and paste an obviously-correct URL into their browser, instead of clicking on a link (and/or they can look at the URL after clicking and verify it's the right place).  This is especially relevant because this software may be protecting tens of thousands of dollars, I want to make sure I end up in the right place.  I know, there's a billion ways that someone who injected code into Armory could cause havoc... but it's really for peace of mind of the security sensitive user.  Arguably, it's completely unnecesary, but I prefer it.

However, I'll see if I can remove the index.php part...

Thanks for the grammar checking, too.  I'll update that when I get home.

Oh, I see.  In that case:

first dialog:

A "Get the latest version" link would be more concise than the whole "Please visit ... (http...) to get ..." bit.  Do you need to   write out the URL when you already provide a link?  Does the link have to have 'index.php/' in it?  That's kind of ugly.  Maybe a mod_rewrite rule could get rid of that part for you.

"through the update process" is superfluous.

second dialog:

"may be considered sensitive *by* some users"

That looks great! I think the last button should be "Download now."

Good call on Ok/Okay.  And underlines...

I have a tendency to be overly verbose, and of course I know what I am trying to do, but it's not always clear to others.   In this case, these dialogs have a lot of text, and I want to make sure it makes sense.  If I have a lot of words, they need to be good words

The first one (versioning) -- Armory now checks the github repo for versions.txt, and pops up this window on load if your version is older than the latest.

The second window is under File-->Export Log File.  I just wanted to make sure that users were aware of what information is in the log file before they send it to me.

OK / Okay - pick one.  And do the keyboard shortcut letter underlining thing on all dialog buttons.

Is that what you meant?  I'm not sure I understood the question.

Suggestions?

make sure you use the git command:


before switching branches.

When you checkout a new branch, nothing actually is downloaded.  Or rather, it was already downloaded when you cloned the repo the first time, and switching to it only copies a couple files around.  Even for myself, sometimes the instant branch-switching makes me wonder if it actually did anything

Interesting that that was the solution...  I guess Fedora doesn't come with static python libraries.  *.so was the old way of doing it, but I ran into too many problems, so that's why I changed it.  I didn't realize some distros would be missing the *.a file...

Hope it's working out for you now!  And by the way, I just sent out your USB key

Switching to the dev branch didn't work, but I'm not really sure if it actually downloaded it either. (my linux knowledge is still fairly limited) However I found some of the comments on github https://github.com/etotheipi/BitcoinArmory/issues/6, switched the .a to .so, and now it works. Thanks!