RPC command "eraseprivkey" for removing a specified private key #2875

pull meighti wants to merge 2 commits into bitcoin:0.8.3 from meighti:0.8.3 changing 8 files +107 −0

meighti commented at 5:06 PM on August 3, 2013: none
- Now you can instantly remove a specified private key
- No need to rescan for wallet transaction in case you use "importprivkey", just enter: importprivkey <bitcoinprivkey> [label] false and you would have your wallet ready again in 1 second
- If wallet is encrypted, it would be necessary to use walletpassphrase in advance (as it's same rule for importprivkey)
- If watch-only pulls get merged, it would hopefully help to add 'sweep private key' functionality (like Armory Bitcoin client)

eraseprivkey

- New RPC command called 'eraseprivkey' makes it possible to go back
and forth together with importprivkey
- Works with both unecrypted and encrypted wallets
- If watch-only pulls get merged, it would hopefully help to add 'sweep
private key' functionality

df1df35bab

eraseprivkey

- New RPC command called 'eraseprivkey' makes it possible to go back
and forth together with importprivkey
- If wallet is encrypted, it would be necessary to use walletpassphrase
in advance.
- If watch-only pulls get merged, it would hopefully help to add 'sweep
private key' functionality (like Armory Bitcoin client)

e5547c5070

BitcoinPullTester commented at 5:08 PM on August 3, 2013: none

Automatic sanity-testing: FAILED MERGE, see http://jenkins.bluematt.me/pull-tester/e5547c5070b8486495a512903a37a516cdd219fb for test log.

This pull does not merge cleanly onto current master This test script verifies pulls every time they are updated. It, however, dies sometimes and fails to test properly. If you are waiting on a test, please check timestamps to verify that the test.log is moving at http://jenkins.bluematt.me/pull-tester/current/ Contact BlueMatt on freenode if something looks broken.
gavinandresen commented at 7:50 AM on August 5, 2013: contributor

NACK.

First: Berkeley DB doesn't give any guarantees that removing a key/value pair will actually remove it from either the .dat file, the journal file(s), or the hard disk. I don't want to repeat the wallet encryption fiasco we went through, where private keys remained on disk unexpectedly.

Second: I believe the tentative plan for a future wallet format is an append-only format, because append-only tends to be more reliable than read/write. Erase private key breaks the append-only property.

And finally: we don't remove private keys because we don't want to make it any easier for users to lose bitcoins. If you REALLY want to remove private keys from your wallet, I think shutting down bitcoind and using a tool like pywallet is the right way to do it, because only the most tech-savvy users will do that.
jgarzik commented at 4:04 PM on August 5, 2013: contributor

Agree w/ Gavin, NAK
jgarzik closed this on Aug 5, 2013
IntegralTeam referenced this in commit 5cfceab860 on Jun 4, 2019
DrahtBot locked this on Sep 8, 2021

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