FIX/FEAT allow not exporting seed to PDF file in Step 5 Backup Seed (create single seed)

[v4v2]

First, thanks for this feature-rich power-user wallet application!

I'd like to report what I think is a bug (it could also be interpreted as feature that may be undesirable to some users, like me): any step that is optional to wallet creation, make it optional and let it the user skip it if the user wants.

When creating a single seed, in step 5 - Backup Seed, BitcoinSafge obligates me to download the PDF file, otherwise it won't show "Next Step" button, even though I may have already wrote down the seed. This happens even if I'm importing an existing seed, which implies I'm storing it somewhere (be paper, encrypted file, or my head).

BitcoinSafe tries to create a file in my home directory called "<WALLET_NAME>.pdf". Since I highly dislike applications cluttering the home directory, I have removed the write permission in my home direction, so any attempt to create a file or directory will result in OS error.

I insist to make them abide to XDG specification by setting env variables (https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/XDG_Base_Directory) and using tools like xdg-ninja (https://github.com/b3nj5m1n/xdg-ninja). For the software that won't abide, it usually crashes and I choose another alternative for the particular use.

So, because BitcoinSafe failed to write this PDF file (lack of permission), it gives me a log trace indicating the OS error and does not allow me to go to next step. An obvious quick workaround is for me to re-add the "+w" permission to my home folder and run BitcoinSafe again.

Nonetheless, I believe it would be a much greater experience BitcoinSafe not obligate the user to follow any step that can be dismissed/skipped, such as this one; any step that can be optional, allow it to be optional. Besides that, I think BitcoinSafe would provide much better user experience by opening a file picker to pick where to store the PDF file and not store it in home folder. Thank you!

Side note: I'm a developer and I'm creating a lot of signet wallets to test them with BitcoinSafe/Sparrow and compare to other wallet software I work with, thus wallet creation is essential in this dev workflow.

[v4v2]

The bug happens in the line 176 of the file bitcoin_safe/pdf_labels.py:

def make_and_open_labels_pdf(wallet_id: str, label_pairs: list[tuple[str, str]], lang_code: str) -> None:
    """Make and open labels pdf."""
    pdf_labels = PDFLabels(lang_code=lang_code)
    pdf_labels.add_labels(wallet_id=wallet_id, label_pairs=label_pairs)

    filename = (
        translate("pdf", "Hardware signer labels for {id}", no_translate=pdf_labels.no_translate).format(
            id=wallet_id
        )
        + ".pdf"
    )
    temp_file = os.path.join(Path.home(), filename) # <- this is not ideal
    pdf_labels.save_pdf(temp_file) # <- here
    pdf_labels.open_pdf(temp_file)

Also, in bitcoin_safe/gui/qt/wizard.py the class BackupSeed treats the print button as "next step":

self.custom_yes_button.setText(self.tr("Print recovery sheet"))

I'll try to build a local patched BitcoinSafe just for now because I really dislike files in my home directory.

[andreasgriffin]

First, thanks for this feature-rich power-user wallet application!

Thank you so much for the feedback and testing.

• I would prefer not to store the PDF in any directory at all, or if, then in a temporary one. However I ran in into issues, on different OS that then the pdf cannot be opened at all.
• A file picker is not ideal, because ideally the file should not be stored at all and it creates user friction.
• Letting the user skip the printing of the PDF is not good either, because for multisig this step is critical.

@v4v2 I'm trying to get the temp-dir solution to work. If not we have to think what the best alternative is. Probably trying to write to HOME, and if it fails, offering a file picker

[andreasgriffin]

@v4v2 would be great if you could test #389

[v4v2]

@v4v2 would be great if you could test #389

ok, gonna test it, which requires me to build it. I was trying to build it locally with poetry install. Is this the way to go? Just clone the repo and run poetry install?

Poetry install failed because my python version is 3.13 and the BitcoinSafe declares 3.10 <= version < 3.13, but that is ok because I know there is pyenv to use different versions of python simultaneously. I installed pyenv and will download the version 3.11, run poetry again and let you know.

[v4v2]

A file picker is not ideal, because ideally the file should not be stored at all and it creates user friction.

What do you think about Writing to a temporary directory in /tmp for Unix systems?

Letting the user skip the printing of the PDF is not good either, because for multisig this step is critical.

Sure. But what about single signature ?

[andreasgriffin]

What do you think about Writing to a temporary directory in /tmp for Unix systems?

#389 write to a cache directory.

ok, gonna test it, which requires me to build it. I was trying to build it locally with poetry install. Is this the way to go? Just clone the repo and run poetry install?

yes poetry install is all you need. https://github.com/andreasgriffin/bitcoin-safe?tab=readme-ov-file#installation-from-git-repository

I use pyenv too.

[v4v2]

Hi, I was able to run poetry install and build the files with poetry build. The files are  bitcoin_safe-1.7.0rc1-py3-none-any.whl  bitcoin_safe-1.7.0rc1.tar.gz

I could not install the wheel file via pipx install bitcoin_safe-1.7.0rc1-py3-none-any.whl because it says the project has no name... Did I miss a step?

[andreasgriffin]

You can run it via

poetry run python -m bitcoin_safe

Also checkout https://github.com/andreasgriffin/bitcoin-safe?tab=readme-ov-file#ubuntu-debian

[v4v2]

thank you! it worked, I've been able to launch a GUI that reflects local code changes. Will test out your PR soon

[v4v2]

@andreasgriffin #389 is working on Step 5 of single signature wallet creation. Where else should I test?

[andreasgriffin]

great. Then I'll merge it.