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libsecp256k1-0 for Electron Cash

Mini HOW-TO

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If you have gotten to this page, likely you have been sent here by Electron Cash's dialog informing you that you don't have libsecp installed. The purpose of this document is to instruct you on how to rectify the situation.

About libsecp256k1-0

This library was originally developed by Peter Wuille for Bitcoin, and has since been adapted and used in many major cryptocurrencies for fast elliptic curve operations. Electron Cash uses this library as a secure way to sign and verify transactions.

CashShuffle requires libsecp256k1-0

Electron Cash's CashShuffle makes heavy use elliptic curve cryptography with each message sent. Since Python-only cryptography is incredibly slow (and potentially susceptible to side-channel exploits), libsecp is required for CashShuffle within Electron Cash. The reason for this requirement is simple: you would be interfering with the speed and security of other shufflers by not using libsecp. Thus in order to be a reliable partner for other shuffle participants, Electron Cash requires you to use this library if you want to enable CashShuffle.

Using libsecp with Electron Cash

You have a few options:

  • If on Windows, it's recommended you run one of the release .exe files available here. The library is included in the .exe.
  • If on macOS, it's recommended you install Electron Cash from the release .dmg available here. The library is included in the .app bundle.
  • For Linux x86_64 (the most common architecture), the Electron Cash release srcdist .tar.gz available here should have the library pre-compiled and living in the electroncash/ subfolder of the tarball. You can simply run Electron Cash "from source" (which, paradoxically, does include a compiled library embedded within it), and it should work.
  • For other architectures and/or Unixey OS's, or if running from git head then proceed to the sections below.

If running from github head -- dev mode ;)

  • git clone the latest git head from https://github.com/Electron-Cash/Electron-Cash (or git pull from master if you already have it cloned).
  • run the script contrib/make_secp
  • Done! If all goes well, libsecp256k1 should low live alongside the Python files in the electroncash/ subfolder of Electron Cash. If not, make sure you have a C-compiler installed on the system as well as automake, and libtool installed and try again.

If you are running from the "srcdist" (.tar.gz) but the provided .so file doesn't work...

Chances are you either are on an exotic architecture (such as 32 bit Intel, non-x86_64, etc) or are on a non-Linux Unix such as BSD, HURD, etc. Don't despair! You can still get this working provided the below preconditions are met:

  • You must be on a "Unix-like" OS that can execute Bash scripts and/or run configure scripts successfully. Windows using MSYS should work fine (but admitedly is untested by us).
  • You must have a C compiler, automake, & libtool installed.
  • You must have git installed.

The steps are as follows:

Last resort: Try your package manager

We say this is a last resort because in the future Electron Cash will benefit from the customized Bitcoin ABC based libsecp we provide (with the Schnorr signature module enabled). But for now, your package manager's libsecp256k1-0 will be sufficient. Note: Not all distributions provide this library as a package, so your mileage may vary.

Example Ubuntu command:

$ sudo apt install libsecp256k1-0

The above all failed! What now?!

Open an issue in our github issue tracker.