problematic error reporting in sendtoaddress #211

bitcoin@btcserver:~/bitcoin-0.3.21/bin/32$ ./bitcoind sendtoaddress 16bRQcbr1VcxxxxxZQxqGhi242eL 0.2 
error: {"code":-4,"message":"Error: This transaction requires a transaction fee of at least 0.01 because of its amount, complexity, or use of recently received funds  "}

Reminds me a bit of "Password incorrect or domain controller unavailable".

My "Errors and Error Messages: Handbook for Dungeon Masters" guidebook says:

§16(a)(vii): "Each and every error message shall describe the one, single, sole, only and unique error condition generating the message."

§16(a)(xix): "No error message shall contain any of the words 'or', 'nor', 'some', 'any', 'several', 'either' or 'neither', nor any of the collocations 'one of', 'some of', 'one or more of', and so on."

Would a "Anti-spam rules require that this transactions carries a transaction fee" be better?

It's impossible to split out the different cases, as it is rather "some complex combination of" rather than "or".

This error message is also problematic because it is triggered for spending coins with too few confirmations as well. Users are not made aware of the fact that they could avoid the fee by just waiting a bit longer. It would probably make sense to use a different message in that case.

@sipa That would be a good idea.

The error occurs only when the value of the transaction + the fee exceeds the balance.

https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/src/wallet.cpp#L1543

What about removing the explanatory fluff and making it just: "The transaction amount with fee added exceeds the spendable balance"?

As it is a bit absurd to have an issue about a message change open for 5 years, I'm going to close this issue. I haven't ever heard anyone else complain about this message. And yes, it's still there.