Installed the blockstack app on linux. What a pain in the arse that was. 64 bit only, specific distributions only, needs something called docker, at least 500Mb of download, requires root to run. WTF?
Got the browser running. Verified 3 social media profiles, couldn’t upload a photo (upload button does nothing) so profile only 80% complete.
Tried to register for token sale, less than $3000. Clicked “Signin with blockstack”.
Got a page saying
"Sign in with Blockstack
You’re here because you clicked “Sign in with Blockstack” and you don’t have the Blockstack app."
Well, duh, yes I do. Clicked “Quick signin”. Got a message saying
"Problem Authenticating
This may be because you are running an older version of the Blockstack Browser…"
No, it’s the latest - Blockstack-for-Linux-v0.20.1.sh
Had to signin to the forums using github because, guess what, I don’t have blockstack installed. YES I DO.
Despite all this I’m still interested in registering for the ICO.
Aha! I originally started the browser with a passphrase containing a space (didn’t read the instructions properly). Instead of giving an error, it appears the blockstack core used just the first word as the password but sent the whole string to the browser.
Attempting to start the browser with just the first word worked, core started, browser started and I was able to upload a photo. Verification showed as complete (although somehow it has buggered up facebook; that shows as unverified and facebook says my account is suspended pending verification.
Attempting to register for the token sale (voucher only) still says “Sign in with Blockstack
You’re here because you clicked “Sign in with Blockstack” and you don’t have the Blockstack app.” and clicking Quick signin still throws "Problem Authenticating
This may be because you are running an older version of the Blockstack Browser…"
Getting closer, I think, but still some way to go. This is a lot of effort just to register for a token sale. How many people have already given up due to similar problems I wonder?
Hey @U53rn4m3T4k3n, sounds like you’ve been doing a deep dive. Let me see if I can supply some supporting details:
There are a few different passwords to be aware of:
There’s your backup phrase, which are the 12 words you write down when you sign up for the first time. This is used to generate BIP32 hardened keys for your various identities and your Bitcoin wallet.
There’s an API password which is stored in ~/.blockstack/client.ini. This is for the Blockstack Core daemon, which implements a back-end API that the browser uses to do things like register names and load data from Gaia (the storage system). Only the browser knows this API password, not applications. Also, the Core daemon only takes requests from localhost:8888. If you’re familiar with bitcoind's RPC passphrase, this one serves a similar purpose.
There’s a password that encrypts the ~/.blockstack/wallet.json file, as well as certain fields in ~/.blockstack/queues.db. The keys in the ~/.blockstack/wallet.json file are not used by the browser, but are instead used by the CLI (i.e. the CLI has its own wallet).
Most users should only need to remember the 12-word backup phrase. By default, the API password is regenerated each time the Browser starts up (but advanced users and developers who run their own Core nodes may opt to enter their API password instead). The password used to encrypt the ~/.blockstack/wallet.json file is also generated automatically, and stored with the OS’s keychain if supported.
EDIT: This is a correction to the above. The prompt for the “Blockstack Core password” you see when you run the Linux start script is used to encrypt the file ~/.blockstack/wallet.json. This wallet file is used by the API daemon for the purpose of registering names in the background. This is NOT the wallet that is used by the browser. Also, this password is NOT your 12-word backup phrase.
If you forget your Blockstack Core password, it’s not the end of the world. The worst that can happen is that any names that were in the process of being registered will be lost. If you forget this password, you can recover by moving your ~/.blockstack directory out of the way to allow the Linux script to create a new one.
although somehow it has buggered up facebook; that shows as unverified and facebook says my account is suspended pending verification.
Have you taken a look at the Facebook verification tutorial here? Facebook doesn’t make this as easy as e.g. Twitter or Github, I’m afraid. If you can supply me with your ID address, I can check the fields manually.
Attempting to register for the token sale (voucher only) still says “Sign in with Blockstack
You’re here because you clicked “Sign in with Blockstack” and you don’t have the Blockstack app.” and clicking Quick signin still throws "Problem Authenticating
That’s strange. Do you see anything in the JS console that looks like an error message when you try to sign into the token site?
in the early days of bitcoin, it was a HUGE hassle to buy. You had to buy like liberty reserve bonds, and go through dwolla, and this and that and it was a nightmare compared to how easy it is now.
But in hindsight, there was opportunity BECAUSE of the barrier of entry. And those who went through the hassle were rewarded very handsomely.
I can’t predict the success of blockstack but if it truly is a disruptive protocol then you’ll be so angry with yourself for not going through the effort when you see the potential price.
so when using the ubuntu launcher script and prompted to “Enter your Blockstack Core password”, should we be using the API password or the backup phrase? neither seem to work for me.
I had the same problems as you guys had. I’m also on Linux. However, I’ve found two other ways to handle this. I used another computer and did it in Windows (yeah, somewhat of a cop-out). But I found a potentially even simpler method:
Even if you’re not using the web blockstack, you can get the AuthRequest that the registration site is sending to Blockstack using DevTools and write that manually in to http://localhost:8888/auth?authRequest=THE_REQUEST if the blockstack: protocol handler for some reason isn’t properly installed for you.
I just posted a correction to my earlier comment regarding the Blockstack Core password. I will make a separate topic to better describe the on-boarding process for Linux users.
Thanks, Jude. I’ll play with this some more tomorrow and hopefully make some progress.
I was verified on Facebook; those instructions were fine. I had 3 social media verifications but when the browser still said I wasn’t verified and the ICO registration said I didn’t have the app installed I spun up a windoze 7 VM and tried to install the browser there. I think I got facebook verified there as well and got into the proper ICO registration but balked at the additional KYC information grab. Coming back to xubuntu VM I found the facebook verification was no longer valid and when I tried to go into facebook to check the post facebook complained of strange activity on my account and wants to do it’s own verification. I haven’t bothered to follow through on that yet.
@19zJ3mbhJSx91kGkTtKa I don’t necessarily believe in the ICO and I certainly don’t believe in the social media based KYC bollocks, I was looking for ICOs to invest in and found Blockstack. The project looks interesting in its own right from a technical and ideological perspective. I’m not convinced of the need for a separate token to support the use of the infrastructure which is being built. I don’t see why bitcoin or ethereum or any other existing coin/token couldn’t be used. After all, bitcoins are currently used to register names.
I’d only be registering for the small-fry voucher which comes with so many caveats that it’s not really very attractive: register now and get a voucher which you may be able to exchange at some to-be-determined point in the future for the opportunity to buy tokens at the ICO price if Blockstack feel like accepting your offer to buy. Clearly they’re hoping the whales will hoover up all the tokens and the little fish will get a look-in only if required to top up the sale to the hard cap. As a money-making proposition it sucks.
I might completely bin this VM and give it another go since the tech is interesting but probably not in time to register or participate in the ICO.
Thanks, Odin. That sounds like hard work! Maybe I’m wrong in thinking this level of effort will dissuade even most linux users. I’ll probably just bin the whole Blockstack installation and try a clean install before getting into your level of poking at it. As I said in a previous reply, I’m not that convinced the ICO is worth participating in and I really don’t like the social media KYC crap.
It’s early and the small team has done a lot in a short time, so I was always expecting some rough patches. Especially in the Linux domain as the implementation is more complex and since I’m not running Ubuntu as suggested.
I’m super thrilled about the technology, I’m not so concerned of the ICO, but I want to have some stack tokens to play with to see how it all will work in practice.
Verifications is needed at one point to build a strong network. I think self-done social media verifications is one of the simpler ways to do it. Though I look forward to signing people and attesting them in-person later. Maybe we finally can get a much-used and user-friendly Web-of-Trust.
