Chia Network Mainnet (Chia Blockchain): Known Issues?, Notable Additions, Et Cetera
Through additional testings, some known issues came up even though it did not appear on the Chia Network Mainnet (Chia Blockchain) release notes.
Issue one: If you already created the Chia keys, it is probably a requirement not to change you network settings (i.e. disabling network interfaces). Otherwise, when Chia Blockchain comes up it will hang on "Connecting to wallet" and will continue forever until shutdown or force shutdown of the app. It seems if the network settings were restored back to its original state, the Chia keys were no longer available. If that is the case, then import the backup of your Chia keys.
Issue two: It seems the loopback interface will not work as "Connecting to wallet" never succeeds.
Notable additions in version 1.2.11 Dev Test 2: “Performance improvements for nodes to support higher transaction volumes, especially for low powered devices like RaspBerry Pi.”
Chia Network Mainnet (Chia Blockchain): PortableAppsFormat Portability Notes
Chia Network Mainnet (Chia Blockchain) Portable is an open source digital currency based on Proofs of Space and Time and with the benefits of Chialisp on chain programming language. It's packaged with a PortableApps.com launcher so you can use it from a cloud folder, portable drive, or local folder without needing to install it on each PC. Learn more about Chia Network Mainnet (Chia Blockchain) …
Chia Network Mainnet (Chia Blockchain) uses %USERPROFILE% and %APPDATA% to store its settings and data. Specifically,
\Users\<username>\.chia
\Users\<username>\.chia_keys
and
\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Chia Blockchain
are use.
To make the app portable, the PortableApps.com launcher \App\AppInfo\Launcher\ChiaNetworkMainnetPortable.ini has the
[DirectoriesMove]
.chia=%USERPROFILE%\.chia
.chia_keys=%USERPROFILE%\.chia_keys
Chia Blockchain=%APPDATA%\Chia Blockchain
which puts the settings, keys, and data in the \Data\.chia, \Data\.chia_keys, and \Data\Chia Blockchain inside the portable app directory.
Chia Network Mainnet (Chia Blockchain) also uses Python keyring to generate and store all private and public keys with countermeasures. With that, a warning is display on every run of the portable app, "WARNING! Be sure to write down, backup, and store the ordered 24 words mnemonic seed (the number beside each word is important). Chia Network Mainnet (Chia Blockchain) works with key management in its own unique ways. It is HIGHLY recommended or perhaps a requirement to delete all private keys using the Chia GUI via the keen red button under Keys (or under Sign In 'DELETE ALL KEYS') if you are no longer using the Chia Network Mainnet (Chia Blockchain) Portable app on the host machine. The 24 words mnemonic seed is use to recover (import) all private and public keys of the portable app on any host machine you desire. With portable app launched, you can also manage keys via command line: \App\ChiaNetworkMainnet\resources\app.asar.unpacked\daemon>.\chia keys --help; .\chia keys show --show-mnemonic-seed; .\chia keys delete_all; .\chia keys add <mnemonic>"
This warning is in \App\AppInfo\Launcher\Custom.nsh
On first run (or even subsequent runs if not added on the first run) the app pops up a dialog box giving the user a chance to add firewall rules pertaining to 8444/TCP (and perhaps 8444/UDP) for peer access. It will require an elevated privilege in order to add the app or the ports required in the firewall. However, UPnP is enabled by default so this should be taken care of right from the start as long as UPnP on routers are enabled as well. Otherwise, configure port forwarding for 8444/TCP and 8444/UDP.
This can also be accomplish by elevated command line,
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=”start_full_node” dir=in action=allow program=”\app\chianetworkmainnet\resources\app.asar.unpacked\daemon\start_full_node.exe” enable=yes
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=”start_full_node” dir=out action=allow program=”\app\chianetworkmainnet\resources\app.asar.unpacked\daemon\start_full_node.exe” enable=yes
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=”start_farmer” dir=in action=allow program=”\app\chianetworkmainnet\resources\app.asar.unpacked\daemon\start_farmer.exe” enable=yes
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=”start_farmer” dir=out action=allow program=”\app\chianetworkmainnet\resources\app.asar.unpacked\daemon\start_farmer.exe” enable=yes
or by ports,
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=”Open TCP Port 8444” dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=8444
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=”Open UDP Port 8444” dir=in action=allow protocol=UDP localport=8444
Besides meeting the portable app definition at https://portableapps.com/about/what_is_a_portable_app, it is very workable in other OS/platform such as Linux, UNIX, BSD, etc. via Wine (winehq.org) & Mac OS X via CrossOver, Wineskin, WineBottler, PlayOnMac.
Finally, “Why PortableApps.com Format and a PortableApps.com Installer?” Perhaps, a read at https://portableapps.com/about/what_is_a_portable_app#whypaf would suffice.