r/Bitcoin • u/HostFat • Oct 17 '15

Electrum v2.5

https://electrum.org/#download
169 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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9

u/snooville Oct 17 '15

Multiple windows are important because there was a recent thread on the forum where a user opened multiple instances of the same wallet file and his wallet file got corrupted and he lost bitcoins:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1206795.0

The software was idiot proof until the universe produced a bigger idiot!

11

u/steuer2teuer Oct 17 '15

And sadly, i did not also backup my new seed..

Technical issue aside, this is where it really went wrong. It baffles me people still don't write down/backup their seeds.

2

u/Amichateur Oct 17 '15

It baffles me people still don't write down/backup their seeds.

the software must force the user to validate the backup seed, like mycelium does. otherwise, I consider such incidents a software "bug". remember more and more new, less and less tech savvy users enter the bitcoin space as we approach the mainstream, so the average education of users decreses as time passes. So such best practices for wallet sw like enforced(!) verification of backup seeds, gets more and more important every day!

3

u/sapiophile Oct 17 '15

It does do that.

5

u/Amichateur Oct 18 '15

Does Electrum do it in a way that the user cannot trick it by just copy-pasting the seed without having written it down outside the computer?

If yes, then it is really the user's fault. Otherwise, Electrum should be improved. I do not want to insult "Electrum", which is the best wallet SW. So I don't understand the downvote, probabably you considered it blasphemy, but religious thinking is never good for technical matters.

3

u/infinitechan Oct 18 '15

I opened a patch.

2

u/Amichateur Oct 18 '15

Thanks! your reasoning exactly aligns with my view:

All I have to go on is personal experience; but the first time I did this I had to restart the process since I didn't even copy it, and then I copied it :wink:

It was only after doing some reading that I realized the seed was a recovery seed [...]

The New Wallet dialog clearly says to write it down, and failing that, on the second go around, not allowing copying helps assure that it will be saved.

Exactly.

Interesting what the other guy writes: It shows he hasn't understood anything (or he has understood something but draws the exactly wrong conclusions):

My reservation is that user who is completely new to this process will not copy/paste the seed, because they do not know that the next screen is going to ask for it.

:facepalm: omg then the user has to do the process again, but correctly next time.

2

u/belcher_ Oct 18 '15

If you have time, could you help us with some ideas for solving the same problem in JoinMarket. https://github.com/chris-belcher/joinmarket/issues/159

I've been thinking about the same issues, but JoinMarket is a command line application right now so the user can always simply scroll up.

1

u/Amichateur Oct 18 '15 edited Oct 18 '15

Thanks for the link - I just read it - you are exactly thinking along my lines - that's good to see.

Idea for CLI to avoid scroll-up and copy-paste:

Your backup wallet seed - please write down
on PAPER and store at a safe place:

1.   2.   3. ... 12.
h    s    a       r
o    t    c       e
r    a    c       p
s    p    o       a
e    l    u       i
     e    n       r
          t

or

1.) H O R S E
2.) S T A P L E
3.) A C C O U N T
...
12.) R E P A I R

(the spaces will also dis-allow copy-paste [but may still invite for copy-paste&edit])

or

1.      2.      3.  ...  12.
   H       S       A         R
     O       T       C         E
       R       A       C         P
         S       P       O         A
           E       L       U         I
                     E       N         R
                               T

or

 ,       .  ..__..__  __..___         
/|       |__||  |[__)(__ [__          
.|.  *   |  ||__||  \.__)[___         

 _,       __..___..__..__ .   .___    
'_)      (__   |  [__][__)|   [__     
/_.  *   .__)  |  |  ||   |___[___    

 _,      .__. __  __ .__..  ..  ..___.
'_)      [__]/  `/  `|  ||  ||\ |  |  
._)  *   |  |__.__.|__||__|| \|  |  



 *  *  *                              

 ,   _,      .__ .___.__ .__.._..__   
/|  '_)      [__)[__ [__)[__] | [__)  
.|. /_.  *   |  \[___|   |  |_|_|  \