Topic: Different versions online vs offline ok? Old "offline bundle" still usable? (Read 3017 times)

I'm still rocking 0.8 on my offline computer, I've yet to need to sign any transactions yet, although, I have generated a few wallets on the offline PC and brought them online (Watch only). That sounds like I'm going to have a huge pain updating. Gahhh.

I'll probably just dd the HDD and use the paper wallets to recover the wallets, transferring files is a pain.

I recently updated my online (watch only) to 0.92. When I attempted to create a transaction and sign it with my offline armory (0.90), it told me it must be updated  (incompatible).

I updated it to 0.92 using "armory_0.92.1_ubuntu-64bit.deb", downloaded through the online client. No offline package was needed so I guess the dependencies were ok.

If you're searching for an offline bundle of the newest version that works with the 14.04 (32 bit) ubuntu I've made one that can be used until it gets added officially.

Hi -

I have some questions about:

- running different versions of Armory on an online machine and an offline machine (when doing cold storage);

- whether the dependencies included in the Ubuntu "offline bundle" for the older Armory 0.90 would still be valid to use in order to do an offline install of the newer Armory 0.91.2; and

- which version might be "better" (i.e. more secure/stable) to use at this time - 0.91.2 or 0.91.99.8 - for someone who just wants to do cold storage plus a little spending?


Questions

(1) Is is possible to use a different version of Armory (and bitcoind) on the offline machine and the online machine?

Or maybe it might be "possible" but still somehow "unadvisable"?

This came up because I recently had to upgrade my online Ubuntu machine to Armory 0.91.2 due to crashes happening in Armory 0.90, possibly related to LevelDB - but my offline Ubuntu machine still has Armory 0.90 because I can't find an "offline bundle" for Armory 0.91.2 .

(2) (If it's impossible or unadvisable to use different versions, then...) Can I use the Armory "offline bundle" provided for the older Armory 0.90 (perhaps by tweaking the install script .sh file?) in order to install the newer Armory 0.91.2 on the offline machine?

In other words, are the dependencies for Armory 0.90 - which are included in the "offline bundle" - the same as the dependencies for Armory 0.91.2 (in particular, the version numbers of the dependencies)?

(3) For just doing cold storage mainly, which version would be more stable / secure to use at this time: 0.91.2 or 0.91.99.8?


Details (basically a rehash of above - ok to skip!)

I have a dedicated online machine and offline machine which I purchased in early 2014 solely for running Armory, where I had installed the following versions:

- Ubuntu 10.04
- Armory 0.90
- bitcoind 0.8.6

Now I'm getting ready to implement cold storage and sweep balances to Armory from an old Win7 bitcoin-qt wallet (originally online a few years ago, later moved "offline" simply by saving multiple copies on CDs and USB sticks and deleting the wallet from the Windows machine).

Now when Armory 0.90 on the online Ubuntu machine finished downloading the blockchain and building and scanning the databases, it started crashing.

I had heard elsewhere about Armory crashing but I thought it had only happened with earlier versions such as 0.88 (due to the need for a lot of memory) or some Mac versions (due to issues with LevelDB on the Mac)... so I was surprised to see it happening with Armory 0.90 on this Ubuntu machine.

I followed the steps recommended in the Armory troubleshooting (I used the Armory Help menu to rebuild the databases, and later deleted the ~/.armory/databases folder) but Armory 0.90 continued to crash, generally a few seconds after launch. I got kinda bummed out because it seemed like I wouldn't be able to use Armory (looked briefly at some other wallets: considered MultiBit but I wanted to avoid Java, and considered Electrum which initially seemed appealing but I didn't like the idea of a server knowing all the addresses in my wallet...)

So I went ahead and upgraded to the following versions on the online machine:

- Ubuntu 12.04
- Armory 0.91.2
- bitcoind 0.9.2.1

This seems to have solved the crashing problems.

To save time, I also restored a backup of the blockchain (I assume it's always compatible), and now Armory 0.91.2 is building and scanning the database, saying it will take a few hours.


(1) Are different versions on different machines ok?

I have only upgraded the online machine to Armory 0.91.2 - because I couldn't find any "offline bundles" at https://bitcoinarmory.com/download for Armory 0.91.2.

So the offline machine still has the older versions:

- Ubuntu 10.04
- Armory 0.90
- bitcoind 0.8.6

I'm concerned there could be problems involving crashes, security or compatibility if the offline machine continues to use these older versions, so I would like to know if there is a way I could upgrade the offline machine to also use Armory 0.91.2.


(2) Are the install script and the .deb's for the older "offline bundle" (0.90) still valid for newer versions?

Could I just use the old "offline bundle" for Armory 0.90 and make some tweaks to the install script so that I can install Armory 0.91.2 or 0.91.99.8 (and bitcoind 0.9.2.1) with the correct dependencies automatically included?

Actually I just looked at the .sh file included in the "online bundle" for Armory 0.90 and it just says:


So I guess my question is:

Are the dependencies (the .deb files?) which are included with the "offline bundle" for Armory 0.90 also usable to do an offline install of Armory 0.91.2 or 0.91.99.8? (In particular, are the versions of the dependencies ok?)


(3) What would be the "best" version to use now for cold storage and some spending?

Finally, I had deliberately installed 0.91.2 since I was unsure whether 0.91.99.8, being relatively new and called a "pre-release" and not mentioned in the ChangeLog, was recommended for use for serious cold storage. Which one would be more stable or secure at this time - 0.91.2 or 0.91.99.8? I don't really need newer features like multisig yet - I just want to move most of my coins from my old (online) Win7 bitcoin-qt wallet to cold storage for safety purposes, and I also want to leave a small amount in a hot wallet because I need to buy some stuff now.


PS - Possible issues on the download page :-)

Also I wanted to mention that the Armory downloads page https://bitcoinarmory.com/download seems to behave differently in different browsers: sometimes certain downloads are missing. This was also mentioned here:

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/no-download-links-off-armory-website-667967

This may be happening if something like JavaScript or Ajax is being used to show and hide sections in the table of downloads on the page. In the worst cases (in Chrome on my Win7 machine) no downloads are shown at all.

It might be better to simplify the site so that it just shows a plain list of all the available downloads in everyone's browser.


Thanks to etotheipi and the other developers for their work on this excellent wallet!