ac01e4ecfe
Document magikoopa ladder repro: empty reserve_pub scrape, pin-only plans, --wallet-db *.json rejection, taler-helper-sqlite3 needs Python >=3.11, portable wall-clock, GOA withdraw checklist.
296 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
296 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
# CLI automation notes (`taler-wallet-cli` + monitoring)
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Living list of **recurring issues** seen while driving GOA (hacktivism) and
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stage TESTPAYSAN via **CLI** (`taler-wallet-cli`, bank/merchant HTTP, monitoring
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e2e/ladder). Ordered roughly by **how often they hurt automation** and how
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useful a fix in **wallet-cli / wallet-core** (or clearer APIs) would be.
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Companions:
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- Android GUI → [`android-test/GUI-AUTOMATION-NOTES.md`](./android-test/GUI-AUTOMATION-NOTES.md)
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- Git / suite tree → [`VERSIONS.md`](./VERSIONS.md)
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Scripts: `check_e2e.sh`, `check_goa_ladder.sh`, `taler-monitoring.sh`.
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Legend:
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| Tag | Meaning |
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|-----|---------|
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| **cli** | wallet-cli UX / flags / hang behaviour |
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| **core** | wallet-core protocol / state machine |
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| **bank** | libeufin-bank / integration API |
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| **ops** | secrets, paths, multi-host |
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| **doc** | missing or wrong documentation |
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---
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## 1. `run-until-done` is unusable for automation
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| | |
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | e2e, ladder, Android notes, macOS comments: *hangs / banned in monitoring* |
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| **Area** | **cli** / **core** |
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| **Problem** | `taler-wallet-cli run-until-done` (or long shepherd runs) often **never returns** or blocks CI-length timeouts. Monitoring **forbids** it and polls balance + bank `transfer_done` instead. |
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| **Workaround** | `advanced serve` + socket (`WSOCK`) or pure poll loops (`LADDER_SETTLE_*`, e2e settle wait). |
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| **Wanted for wallet-cli** | Bounded wait: e.g. `run-until-done --timeout=Ns --exit-on=withdrawn|paid|idle`; stable non-zero exit on timeout; progress on stdout/JSON. |
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---
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## 2. Withdraw completion is not observable from CLI alone
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| | |
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | e2e “coins missing after withdraw”; ladder `OK_BANK` vs wallet avail |
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| **Area** | **cli** / **core** / **bank** |
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| **Problem** | After `accept-uri` + bank confirm, coins may lag (wirewatch). CLI has no single “withdraw settled” command with clear success/failure; automation reimplements status from bank integration JSON + balance polls. |
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| **Workaround** | Poll `balance` + `…/withdrawal-operation/{id}` (`status`, `transfer_done`, `selected_reserve_pub`). |
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| **Wanted** | `wallet-cli withdrawals wait --id=… --timeout=` or JSON event stream: `selected → confirmed → coins-available`. |
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---
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## 3. `reserve_pub` / force-select is fragile (5114 + empty scrape)
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| | |
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | ladder force-select, e2e confirm path, Android spinner issues; **repro 2026-07-19 magikoopa** GOA ladder: `force-select skipped · no reserve_pub for this withdraw (WID=…); wallet may not have selected yet` |
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| **Area** | **cli** / **core** / **bank** / **ops** |
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| **Problem** | (a) Cumulative wallets re-emit old reserves; binding the wrong `reserve_pub` yields **HTTP 409 / code 5114** (“already bound”). (b) Automation scrapes accept/tx dumps for candidates — when the dump has **no** pub at all, ladder WARNs and skips force-select (soft), then often **SKIP_CONFIRM**. (c) Empty scrape is **not** the same as “bank out of money”; do not treat as balance failure. |
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| **Workaround** | Score pubs by WID/amount; try several; treat 5114 as “stale reserve” not “out of money”. Refresh `transactions` before each force-select try. Soft-skip confirm if still pending after polls. Fix wallet DB / helper first if accept/tx only print FATAL (see §15–16) — otherwise scrape can never find a pub. |
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| **Wanted** | CLI returns **the** `reserve_pub` for the just-accepted withdraw in structured JSON; `force-select` / bank-side select API documented with idempotency. Optional: bank integration already exposes `selected_reserve_pub` when wallet selected — prefer that over scraping wallet logs. |
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### 3a. Ladder pin amounts hide mid-range behaviour
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | `LADDER_STEPS=3` plan collapses to pins only: `GOA:0`, `max-1`, `max` (no random mid rungs) |
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| **Area** | **ops** / **bank** / **cli** |
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| **Problem** | **Zero** withdraw often never produces a usable `reserve_pub` / coins (wallet 7006 or no denoms). **Absolute max** often **mint HTTP 500 / code 5110** SQL `P0001` (ceiling probe — expected soft on max pin). Reproducing “real” force-select needs a **mid** amount (e.g. `GOA:1` … exchange min denom scale), not only pins. |
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| **Workaround** | Use `LADDER_STEPS≥5` (or higher) so random mids exist; treat zero / absolute-max as probes. Soft-skip zero (7006) and max ceiling (5110). |
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| **Wanted** | Ladder plan docs: pin vs mid semantics; CLI structured error for amount-too-large / zero. |
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---
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## 4. Exchange not auto-known for bank deep links / withdraw URIs
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | Android endless spinner; GOA `bank.hacktivism.ch` withdraw; fixed in app branch `fix/bank-withdraw-auto-exchange` |
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| **Area** | **core** / **cli** |
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| **Problem** | Withdraw URI names an exchange the wallet has never added → stuck loading / empty exchange list. CLI requires explicit `exchanges add` + `update` + `accept-tos` every fresh DB. |
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| **Workaround** | e2e always adds exchange before bank withdraw ladder; Android needs ensureExchange-style fix. |
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| **Wanted** | CLI/core: on `accept-uri` withdraw, **auto-add** exchange from URI/bank details (`allowCompletion`), then surface ToS if needed in one command. |
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---
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## 5. Default ports in URIs (`:443` / `:80`) break round-trips
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | ladder/e2e strip ports; QR checks; mint URIs with `:443` |
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| **Area** | **cli** / **bank** / **doc** |
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| **Problem** | Some bank/wallet outputs include `taler://…host:443/…`. QR validators and some clients reject or double-normalize inconsistently. |
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| **Workaround** | `sed 's/:443\//\//g'` everywhere in automation. |
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| **Wanted** | Canonical form without default ports in **all** wallet-cli and bank integration outputs; document as invariant. |
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---
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## 6. No first-class “demo withdraw” / explorer mint in wallet-cli
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | e2e uses bank admin + bank withdraw create; ladder/gui-chain reimplement explorer mint in Python |
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| **Area** | **cli** / **ops** |
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| **Problem** | Automation always hand-rolls Basic auth → token → `POST …/withdrawals` → `taler_withdraw_uri`. Easy to get wrong (auth header, amount currency). |
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| **Workaround** | Shared Python in `goa-chain` / ladder / e2e; secrets files. |
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| **Wanted** | Optional helper: `wallet-cli testing mint-withdraw --bank=URL --user=explorer --password-file=… --amount=GOA:10` (or bank-side only tool in libeufin) emitting a clean URI. |
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---
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## 7. Long-lived wallet process required for pay/withdraw progress
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | e2e `advanced serve` / shepherd socket |
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| **Area** | **cli** |
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| **Problem** | One-shot CLI invocations do not keep background work alive; without serve/shepherd, withdraw/pay may stall mid-flight. |
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| **Workaround** | Start serve once per e2e run; route `wcli` through the socket. |
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| **Wanted** | Documented, supported “session mode”: start/stop serve; or each mutating command optionally `--background-until=…` with timeout. |
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---
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## 8. ToS accept is a separate step that fails silently or blocks
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | e2e `exchanges accept-tos`; ladder after add; Android GUI ToS screens |
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| **Area** | **cli** / **core** |
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| **Problem** | Fresh exchange → operations need ToS; CLI must call `accept-tos` explicitly. Failures are easy to miss in multi-step scripts. |
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| **Workaround** | Always `accept-tos` after `update` in e2e/ladder. |
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| **Wanted** | `accept-uri --accept-tos` or auto-prompt with non-interactive `--yes` that covers exchange ToS for that URI’s exchange. |
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---
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## 9. Pay template / public order path is merchant-shaped, not CLI-shaped
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | e2e shop templates, stage farmer shops, ladder private orders |
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| **Area** | **cli** / **doc** |
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| **Problem** | Wallet-cli pays via `handle-uri` on `taler://pay/…`; creating the order is always custom curl (template POST or private order + token). No unified “pay this amount to instance” for public templates. |
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| **Workaround** | Monitoring builds URI externally then `handle-uri --yes`. |
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| **Wanted** | Documented recipe only, or `wallet-cli testing pay-template --base=… --instance=… --id=…` for demos. |
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---
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## 10. Amount / currency parsing edge cases
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | ladder min denom 0.01 vs GOA 1e-6; zero withdraw rejected (HTTP 409 / amount too low); max wire ceilings |
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| **Area** | **cli** / **bank** |
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| **Problem** | `CURRENCY:0` and sub-min amounts fail differently per stack; CLI error strings are not machine-stable. |
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| **Workaround** | Soft-skip zero rung; clamp ladder min to exchange denoms / bank max_wire. |
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| **Wanted** | Structured errors (`AMOUNT_too_small`, `currency_unknown`) in JSON mode; `wallet-cli amount validate --exchange=`. |
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---
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## 11. Finding the right `taler-wallet-cli` binary
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | `find_wallet_cli` in `lib.sh`; hardcoded laptop paths; wrapper vs `.mjs` |
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| **Area** | **ops** / **cli** |
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| **Problem** | Debian package is a shell wrapper; some tools need `node …/taler-wallet-cli.mjs`. Hardcoded `/Users/…` paths break other hosts. |
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| **Workaround** | `find_wallet_cli` search list; `WALLET_CLI=` override. |
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| **Wanted** | Single install story: `wallet-cli --version` JSON with path + libversion; no need to pass `.mjs` to node by hand. |
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---
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## 12. Secrets and multi-stack confusion
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | explorer vs admin password; GOA secrets used on stage; ladder EXP_PW |
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| **Area** | **ops** |
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| **Problem** | CLI does not know “which stack”; wrong password → 401 mid-ladder. Not a wallet-cli bug, but every CLI automation hits it. |
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| **Workaround** | `SECRETS_ROOT`, stage SSH, `STACK=` profiles. |
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| **Wanted** | Optional `~/.config/taler/stacks.d/goa.env` convention documented next to wallet-cli; still no secrets in repo. |
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---
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## 13. No stable machine-readable “step result” for scripts
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | e2e greps accept output; ladder scrapes JSON from mixed stdout |
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| **Area** | **cli** |
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| **Problem** | Human logs + occasional JSON blobs; hard to parse reliably. |
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| **Workaround** | Python scrapers, temp files, `tee`. |
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| **Wanted** | Global `--json` / `--ndjson` for all commands; one object per completed operation with `ok`, `op`, `ids`, `amounts`. |
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---
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## 14. Pay settlement wait is symmetric to withdraw pain
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | e2e pay settle loops; ladder pay settle rounds |
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| **Area** | **cli** / **core** |
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| **Problem** | After `handle-uri` pay, success is “order paid” / balance drop / merchant order status — not one CLI wait. |
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| **Workaround** | Short poll loops; never run-until-done. |
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| **Wanted** | Same as §1–2: bounded wait on transaction id / order id. |
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---
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## 15. `--wallet-db=*.json` is rejected (“memory backend not supported”)
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | **2026-07-19 magikoopa** wallet-cli **1.6.8** / **1.6.11** bundle: any command with `--wallet-db=/tmp/foo.json` fails immediately with `Error: memory backend not supported` |
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| **Area** | **cli** / **ops** |
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| **Problem** | Current node host treats storage paths ending in **`.json` as unsupported memory backend** and throws before opening sqlite. Old notes / local tests that used `WALLET_DB=….json` break. Accept/transactions then never emit `reserve_pub` → ladder §3 empty-scrape WARNs. |
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| **Workaround** | Use a **non-`.json` path**, e.g. `--wallet-db=$SCRATCH/wallet.sqlite3` (ladder already prefers `wallet.sqlite3`). Never pass `….json` as wallet-db. |
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| **Wanted** | Clearer error: `wallet-db path must not end in .json; use a directory or .sqlite3 path`. Document legal path forms in `--help`. |
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---
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## 16. `taler-helper-sqlite3` requires Python ≥ 3.11 on PATH
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | magikoopa: helper is a **Python** script (`#!/usr/bin/env python3`); with Apple `/usr/bin/python3` **3.9.6** → `FATAL: python version >=3.11 required but running on 3.9.6` in accept/tx logs; wallet may still exit 0 on some paths while stdout is FATAL-only |
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| **Area** | **ops** / **cli** |
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| **Problem** | Wallet spawns `taler-helper-sqlite3` from **PATH**. Wrong `python3` ⇒ sqlite backend fails ⇒ no real wallet state ⇒ no `reserve_pub` for force-select. |
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| **Workaround** | Put **Python ≥3.11** (or 3.12+) first on PATH for mon jobs; ensure `command -v taler-helper-sqlite3` works; smoke: `taler-helper-sqlite3` starts without FATAL. Prefer Homebrew / user `python3.11+` over macOS system 3.9 for agent PATH. |
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| **Wanted** | Helper shebang or wrapper that finds a suitable python; wallet preflight error if helper HELLO fails (not silent empty logs). |
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---
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## 17. Portable wall-clock for scripts (no GNU `timeout` assumed)
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | macOS agent shells: `timeout: command not found`; e2e already tries `timeout` then `gtimeout` then `perl -e alarm` |
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| **Area** | **ops** / **doc** |
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| **Problem** | GNU coreutils `timeout` is not on stock macOS. Hard-wiring it breaks portable repro and CI on Darwin. |
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| **Workaround** | Prefer **python3** `subprocess.Popen(…).wait(timeout=…)` for outer budgets; for wallet-cli inner calls keep e2e order: `timeout` → `gtimeout` → perl alarm. Document both. |
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| **Wanted** | One suite helper `run_with_budget SECS cmd…` in `lib.sh` used by ladder/e2e/smoke. |
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---
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## 18. How to withdraw (operator checklist, GOA laptop)
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Portable path that works when §§15–16 are fixed:
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1. **PATH:** `taler-helper-sqlite3` + **python3 ≥ 3.11** ahead of system 3.9.
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2. **Wallet DB:** `WDB=$TMP/wallet.sqlite3` — **not** `*.json`.
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3. **Exchange:** `exchanges add` → `update -f` → `accept-tos` for `https://exchange.hacktivism.ch/`.
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4. **Bank mint (explorer):** token with explorer password from `SECRETS_ROOT` / `EXP_PW`; `POST …/accounts/explorer/withdrawals` with e.g. `{"amount":"GOA:1"}` (avoid pure **0** and absolute **max** pins for happy-path tests).
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5. **Strip** `:443` from `taler_withdraw_uri`.
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6. **`withdraw accept-uri --exchange URL URI`**.
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7. **Bank:** poll `…/taler-integration/withdrawal-operation/{WID}` → when `selected`, confirm; if stuck `pending`, force-select with scraped `reserve_pub` (§3).
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8. **Settle:** poll wallet balance / bank `transfer_done` — **no** `run-until-done` (§1).
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If step 6’s stdout is only `FATAL: python version…` or `memory backend not supported`, **stop** and fix §15–16 before debugging force-select.
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---
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## Priority shortlist for `taler-wallet-cli` / core
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If only a few changes land, these unlock the most automation:
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1. **Bounded `run-until-done` / wait-for-state** (§1, §2, §14)
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2. **Structured JSON on every command** (§13)
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3. **Auto-add exchange + ToS on accept-uri** (§4, §8)
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4. **Canonical URIs without :443** (§5)
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5. **Emit reserve_pub for last withdraw** (§3)
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6. **Clear wallet-db path rules + helper preflight** (§15, §16)
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---
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## How we work around today (monitoring)
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| Issue | Monitoring behaviour |
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|-------|----------------------|
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| run-until-done | Disabled; balance + bank poll |
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| serve | Optional long-lived socket in e2e |
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| exchange | Explicit add/update/accept-tos |
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| ladder explorer | `read_secret` / EXP_PW_FILE |
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| stage maxima | bank `max_wire` + keys min denom |
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| force-select | multi-rpub try; soft-skip confirm; empty scrape → WARN not balance fail |
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| wallet-db path | Prefer `*.sqlite3` (never `*.json` as db path) |
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| helper / python | mon PATH must include helper + python≥3.11 |
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---
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## How to add an issue
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```markdown
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### N. short title
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|--|--|
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| **Seen** | where / which stack |
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| **Area** | cli / core / bank / ops / doc |
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| **Problem** | … |
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| **Workaround** | … |
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| **Wanted** | concrete CLI/core behaviour |
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```
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