import key from PEM file #245

1. 
   jtobey commented at 9:46 pm on May 19, 2011: none

   Motivation: Create keys on a secure system using only OpenSSL or similar software. Receive BTC, then when ready to spend them, use importkey in a running client.

   importkey <file> <account> Reads a PEM-encoded keypair from file and adds it to the wallet. To create a keypair with OpenSSL, use: openssl ecparam -name secp256k1 -out NEW_KEY.pem -genkey Returns the key’s bitcoin address.

   $ bitcoind importkey ~/NEW_KEY.pem TestAcct mt5M3Qa7fXsUV3bK6WtWTZEvXY2M1UPEgv

   Bug: I’d like to safeguard against overwriting a key in the wallet with bogus data. Bug: I don’t understand what has to be mutexed. Bug: Should do anything possible to make sure the imported key is valid.

   Note: I did not implement the corresponding export function, because my use case does not require it. I will be happy to implement it if this will improve the patch’s chance of acceptance.

   Note: To make this convenient, one (I) would write a little script to read one of these PEM files and print a Bitcoin address. All key handling would be possible offline, and certainly in the absence of a block chain, until spend time. For my next trick, expect offline transaction signing and an importtx function.

   Forum topic: http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=9046.0

2. importkey and ImportPemFile, sans safeguards 9b8f98ad8f
3. importkey: better help text 4ae5c4588d
4. Avoid FILE* leak. 9a03627f89
5. 
   jgarzik commented at 9:05 am on June 14, 2011: contributor

   I think we would prefer this pull request: #220
6. 
   jtobey commented at 3:33 pm on June 14, 2011: none

   I’m happy with it. I think a simple tool could convert PEM to Sipa’s format. I appreciate your digging through this stuff!

   -John

   On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 5:05 AM, jgarzik < reply@reply.github.com>wrote:

   I think we would prefer this pull request: #220

   Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: #245 (comment)

7. 
   gavinandresen commented at 3:48 pm on June 24, 2011: contributor

   I’m going to close this; a tool to convert PEM to sipa’s format would be nifty (and could be shipped with bitcoin in the contrib/ folder).
8. gavinandresen closed this on Jun 24, 2011

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Contributors
jtobey jgarzik gavinandresen