From ec40b2e0acd796123c10aa332510a5fe1df58e07 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: kn0wmad Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2021 09:43:14 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 01/10] Service FAQ update --- source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst | 10 ++++++++++ 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+) diff --git a/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst b/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst index d1321eb..12975fa 100644 --- a/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst +++ b/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst @@ -21,6 +21,16 @@ We are looking into adding as a Wireguard service for VPN access when you are no Can the Embassy run 'X' Service?? --------------------------------- Potentially. `Here `_ is a comprehensive list of self-hosted services, any of which can theoretically make it to the Embassy one day. +To get a general idea of what is required of an app, answer these questions: + + 1. Is it designed to be self-hosted? + 2. Can it run on a Raspberry Pi? + 3. If it has a P2P interface, does that interface support Tor? + 4. Does it ship with it's own web interface? Or is there a Tor-enabled client app? + 5. Is there someone willing to put in the time to package it up? + +If all answers are yes, then it can run on EmbassyOS. + If you are interested in packaging a service up for the Embassy, which does not require extensive development skills, please see our guide :ref:`here `. We are aggressively moving away from service development in favor of a more community driven approach. Meaning you, an app development team, or anyone else on Earth, can bring the Service they want to the Embassy Marketplace. You don't need our permission. From 3bd1d2bd1656325382e497753091edda9131ecb7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: kn0wmad Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2021 09:08:23 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 02/10] Added backup FAQ --- source/support/FAQ/usage-faq.rst | 4 ++++ 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+) diff --git a/source/support/FAQ/usage-faq.rst b/source/support/FAQ/usage-faq.rst index cd4ff89..98e8833 100644 --- a/source/support/FAQ/usage-faq.rst +++ b/source/support/FAQ/usage-faq.rst @@ -48,6 +48,10 @@ Can I have multiple users on my Embassy? ---------------------------------------- Currently, the Embassy itself is designed to for a single user. There is no way to grant others access to your Embassy without sharing your personal, master password, which is not recommended. There are certain services, however, such as Bitwarden, File Browser, and Mastodon, that absolutely support multiple users (aka multi-tenancy, aka uncle Jim model) where people who trust you can create their own, personal accounts for these services on your Embassy. Just remind them that they are trusting you with their data, and that it might be preferable for them to take the final leap of self-sovereignty and get an Embassy of their own. +Do I need to delete existing backups before doing a new backup? Or does a new backup override the old backup? +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- +No, you don’t need to delete the old backups. The tech we use updates the existing backup. + Why would I even buy this when I can just build it for free?? ------------------------------------------------------------- (1) White glove support. Because each Embassy comes with a unique product key engraved on it, and we have a record of all product keys ever, we can ask the user to verify their product key in order to receive a higher tier of support, such as phone calls. From f0a2f754e473d19bb4bc91c36484a12d8c33bb87 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: kn0wmad Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2021 11:11:42 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 03/10] Added LND FAQ --- source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst | 4 ++++ 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+) diff --git a/source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst b/source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst index 09960b8..c142e35 100644 --- a/source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst +++ b/source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst @@ -90,6 +90,10 @@ Are my addresses, channels, and balances all stored in LND or in RTL? --------------------------------------------------------------------- This is all on LND, and RTL is just a GUI for accessing LND. On-chain balance is also part of the LND backup. +How do I find my LND seed so I can write it down to backup? +----------------------------------------------------------- +We only support backups via the Embassy backup flow. While it is technically possible to get the LND seed from your box, it is very difficult and we have no documentation for this. Everything is backed up by our backup system and so you do not need your seed. The seed is ONLY for the onchain wallet and does not backup your channel state, which is why we do not support it. + Is there a way to use the channel backups made within RTL? ---------------------------------------------------------- The only backup flow we officially support is through the Embassy backup system. This does include the channel backups created automatically by LND, but it must be understood that backups in Lightning are very different than they are on Layer 1 Bitcoin. If you restore from backup all your channels will close, and there is a potential, albeit small, probability for you to lose funds. From b5dfc86642f9aeec013da673f6fa1d8d517d9fac Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: kn0wmad Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2021 12:29:17 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 04/10] LND FAQ Edit --- source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst | 6 +++++- 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst b/source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst index c142e35..015a1a1 100644 --- a/source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst +++ b/source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst @@ -92,7 +92,11 @@ This is all on LND, and RTL is just a GUI for accessing LND. On-chain balance i How do I find my LND seed so I can write it down to backup? ----------------------------------------------------------- -We only support backups via the Embassy backup flow. While it is technically possible to get the LND seed from your box, it is very difficult and we have no documentation for this. Everything is backed up by our backup system and so you do not need your seed. The seed is ONLY for the onchain wallet and does not backup your channel state, which is why we do not support it. +All LND backups are best done via the Embassy backup flow. It is not supported to use a seed as backup; LND does not expose this. Everything is backed up by our backup system and so you do not need your seed. The seed is ONLY for the onchain wallet and does not backup your channel state. + +To clarify some of the reasons for this choice: + +First off, Lightning is fundamentally different than on-chain/Layer1 bitcoin. There is no way to compress all of that information down into a single 24 word seed in such a way that it will continue to work throughout your usage of the Lightning Network. So that yields the question: what is the LND seed *for*? In short, the seed is only used for the Layer1 portion of the funds you have locked up in LND. Due to the live nature of LND and lightning nodes more generally, we generally discourage keeping any significant amount of money in the onchain portion of your wallet. Further, given that we cannot actually recover the L2 funds with that seed, we needed to have a more holistic way to backup LND funds such that the backup would encompass the ability to get L2 funds back. The Embassy backup system does this, and this approach also happens to be a perfectly good backup of your L1 funds as well. While Bitcoin users have been trained that the 24 word seed can be used to recover all of their funds, it is important to state that lightning does not and cannot work this way. Exposing the seed gives you two separate things to keep track of in order to recover your funds instead of just one. Is there a way to use the channel backups made within RTL? ---------------------------------------------------------- From 42cd45f6177d57e17e11b3caf5578cfade6c3452 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: kn0wmad Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2021 12:40:10 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 05/10] Minor edit --- source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst | 4 ++-- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst b/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst index 12975fa..372a65b 100644 --- a/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst +++ b/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst @@ -34,8 +34,8 @@ If all answers are yes, then it can run on EmbassyOS. If you are interested in packaging a service up for the Embassy, which does not require extensive development skills, please see our guide :ref:`here `. We are aggressively moving away from service development in favor of a more community driven approach. Meaning you, an app development team, or anyone else on Earth, can bring the Service they want to the Embassy Marketplace. You don't need our permission. -Is the Embassy a Tor relay node? --------------------------------- +Does the Embassy operate as a Tor relay node? +--------------------------------------------- No, currently it is not, but we plan to add that functionality in the future. Are files on File browser encrypted on disk? From f5e8aa790b98f510338a9dee6ed73ea8542f107c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: kn0wmad Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2021 16:36:52 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 06/10] Fixed broken link --- source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst b/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst index 372a65b..e9f2da1 100644 --- a/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst +++ b/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst @@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ While we are intent on providing the most friendly experience possible to our cu I want to understand in depth how a Service works and it's available configuration options. Where can I go to learn more? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -Depending on the app, the config options can be quite involved. Bitcoin Core, for example, has an enormous amount of complex options, almost none of which are useful to a normal user doing normal things. We chose some very sane defaults that should work for normal use cases. Here is an example config from the Bitcoin `GitHub `. +Depending on the app, the config options can be quite involved. Bitcoin Core, for example, has an enormous amount of complex options, almost none of which are useful to a normal user doing normal things. We chose some very sane defaults that should work for normal use cases. Here is an example config from the Bitcoin `GitHub `_. By reading the descriptions in the link above, as well as doing some extra searching on your favorite search engine, you can begin to discover all the crazy ways in which someone can customize their Bitcoin node. Here is another list of `possible options `_. From fb430f4a3ecde8c6e07374959fa4d863c00dd3c2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: kn0wmad Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2021 10:39:02 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 07/10] Typo fix and menu bugfix --- source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst | 4 ++-- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst b/source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst index 015a1a1..4ae6030 100644 --- a/source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst +++ b/source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst @@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ This is all on LND, and RTL is just a GUI for accessing LND. On-chain balance i How do I find my LND seed so I can write it down to backup? ----------------------------------------------------------- -All LND backups are best done via the Embassy backup flow. It is not supported to use a seed as backup; LND does not expose this. Everything is backed up by our backup system and so you do not need your seed. The seed is ONLY for the onchain wallet and does not backup your channel state. +All LND backups are best done via the Embassy backup flow. It is not supported to use a seed as backup; LND does not expose this. Everything is backed up by our backup system and so you do not need your seed. The seed is ONLY for the onchain wallet and does not backup your channel state. To clarify some of the reasons for this choice: @@ -116,5 +116,5 @@ It is possible to have lightning balances that are so low that they will not (or Why are Lightning Network backups and moves so complicated? ----------------------------------------------------------- -There are safe ways to do an “atomic move” of a LN node but it requires a very specific sequence of actions and certain mistakes can result in your counterparties taking all your funds. Fundamentally, today, LN works on a punishment scheme. This means if you publish revoked state, that the counterparty is entitled to a claim on all the funds in the channel. This incentive system is what makes the whole thing work. Without it LN would be subject to various kinds of thievery. +There are safe ways to do an “atomic move” of a LN node, but it requires a very specific sequence of actions and certain mistakes can result in your counterparties taking all your funds. Fundamentally, today, LN works on a punishment scheme. This means if you publish revoked state, that the counterparty is entitled to a claim on all the funds in the channel. This incentive system is what makes the whole thing work. Without it LN would be subject to various kinds of thievery. So the downside is that backups of old state are not safe. This is because your node might believe it is the real state of the channel, but it may be unaware of states created since then. The problem here is that your node naively believes something different from the truth, which can result in all of the funds being lost. In response to this reality, the safe backup systems, including those generated by RTL, actually do not include channel state. They only list the peers that you had channels with. Restoring these backups essentially politely asks your peers to force close the channels they have with you. In those moments it is possible for your peer to try and cheat you, but they cannot be 100% sure that you can’t punish them, so it’s extremely unlikely that they will attempt to do so. From bcb2c6f04c6ec3f9bf3a3fe3eb19dca5a52e2b38 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Lucy Cifferello <12953208+elvece@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2021 17:59:35 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 08/10] typos and wording fixes --- source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst | 13 ++++++++----- source/support/FAQ/usage-faq.rst | 2 +- 2 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-) diff --git a/source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst b/source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst index 4ae6030..dad04b7 100644 --- a/source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst +++ b/source/support/FAQ/bitcoin-faq.rst @@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ There are many wallets that support linking to your own full node. You will nee Is BlueWallet an option? ------------------------ -BlueWallet requires a seperate backend service called LNDHub, which is not available on the Embassy at this time. +BlueWallet requires a separate backend service called LNDHub, which is not available on the Embassy at this time. Is it possible to run c-lightning and lnd parallel on the Embassy? ------------------------------------------------------------------ @@ -92,11 +92,13 @@ This is all on LND, and RTL is just a GUI for accessing LND. On-chain balance i How do I find my LND seed so I can write it down to backup? ----------------------------------------------------------- -All LND backups are best done via the Embassy backup flow. It is not supported to use a seed as backup; LND does not expose this. Everything is backed up by our backup system and so you do not need your seed. The seed is ONLY for the onchain wallet and does not backup your channel state. +All LND backups are best done via the Embassy backup flow. It is not supported to use a seed as backup; LND does not expose this. Everything crucial is backed up by our backup system so you do not need your seed. The seed is ONLY for the onchain wallet and does not backup your channel state. To clarify some of the reasons for this choice: -First off, Lightning is fundamentally different than on-chain/Layer1 bitcoin. There is no way to compress all of that information down into a single 24 word seed in such a way that it will continue to work throughout your usage of the Lightning Network. So that yields the question: what is the LND seed *for*? In short, the seed is only used for the Layer1 portion of the funds you have locked up in LND. Due to the live nature of LND and lightning nodes more generally, we generally discourage keeping any significant amount of money in the onchain portion of your wallet. Further, given that we cannot actually recover the L2 funds with that seed, we needed to have a more holistic way to backup LND funds such that the backup would encompass the ability to get L2 funds back. The Embassy backup system does this, and this approach also happens to be a perfectly good backup of your L1 funds as well. While Bitcoin users have been trained that the 24 word seed can be used to recover all of their funds, it is important to state that lightning does not and cannot work this way. Exposing the seed gives you two separate things to keep track of in order to recover your funds instead of just one. +First off, Lightning is fundamentally different than on-chain/Layer1(L1) bitcoin. There is no way to compress all of that information down into a single 24 word seed in such a way that it will continue to work throughout your usage of the Lightning Network. + +So, what is the LND seed *for*? In short, the seed is only used for the Layer1 portion of the funds you have locked up in LND. Due to the live nature of LND and lightning nodes in general, we tend to discourage keeping any significant amounts of money in the onchain portion of your wallet. Given that we cannot actually recover the Layer2(L2) funds with that seed, we needed to have a more holistic way to backup LND funds such that the backup would encompass the ability to get L2 funds back. The Embassy backup system does this, and this approach also happens to be a perfectly valid backup of your L1 funds as well. While Bitcoin users have been trained that the 24 word seed can be used to recover all of their funds, it is important to state that lightning does not and cannot work this way. Exposing the seed gives you two separate things to keep track of in order to recover your funds instead of just one. Is there a way to use the channel backups made within RTL? ---------------------------------------------------------- @@ -116,5 +118,6 @@ It is possible to have lightning balances that are so low that they will not (or Why are Lightning Network backups and moves so complicated? ----------------------------------------------------------- -There are safe ways to do an “atomic move” of a LN node, but it requires a very specific sequence of actions and certain mistakes can result in your counterparties taking all your funds. Fundamentally, today, LN works on a punishment scheme. This means if you publish revoked state, that the counterparty is entitled to a claim on all the funds in the channel. This incentive system is what makes the whole thing work. Without it LN would be subject to various kinds of thievery. -So the downside is that backups of old state are not safe. This is because your node might believe it is the real state of the channel, but it may be unaware of states created since then. The problem here is that your node naively believes something different from the truth, which can result in all of the funds being lost. In response to this reality, the safe backup systems, including those generated by RTL, actually do not include channel state. They only list the peers that you had channels with. Restoring these backups essentially politely asks your peers to force close the channels they have with you. In those moments it is possible for your peer to try and cheat you, but they cannot be 100% sure that you can’t punish them, so it’s extremely unlikely that they will attempt to do so. +There are safe ways to do an “atomic move” of a LN node, but it requires a very specific sequence of actions and certain mistakes can result in your counterparties taking all your funds. Currently, LN works on a punishment scheme. This means if you publish revoked state, the counterparty is entitled to a claim on all the funds in the channel. This incentive system is what makes the whole system work. Without it LN would be subject to various kinds of thievery. + +The downside is that backups of old state are not safe. This is because your node might believe it is the real state of the channel, but it may be unaware of states created since then. The problem here is that your node naively believes something different from the truth, which can result in all of the funds being lost. In response to this reality, the safe backup systems, including those generated by RTL, actually do not include channel state. They only list the peers that you had channels with. Restoring these backups essentially politely asks your peers to force close the channels they have with you. In those moments it is possible for your peer to try and cheat you, but they cannot be 100% sure that you can’t punish them, so it’s extremely unlikely that they will attempt to do so. diff --git a/source/support/FAQ/usage-faq.rst b/source/support/FAQ/usage-faq.rst index 98e8833..df274d2 100644 --- a/source/support/FAQ/usage-faq.rst +++ b/source/support/FAQ/usage-faq.rst @@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ Currently, the Embassy itself is designed to for a single user. There is no way Do I need to delete existing backups before doing a new backup? Or does a new backup override the old backup? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -No, you don’t need to delete the old backups. The tech we use updates the existing backup. +No, you don’t need to delete the old backups. The technology we use updates the existing backup. Why would I even buy this when I can just build it for free?? ------------------------------------------------------------- From 17575f5e0b907ebd6bed38737bee6c3681b56f16 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: kn0wmad Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2021 08:24:00 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 09/10] Added link to Service FAQ --- source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst | 4 +++- 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst b/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst index e9f2da1..e2be2cd 100644 --- a/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst +++ b/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst @@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ Can the Embassy run 'X' Service?? --------------------------------- Potentially. `Here `_ is a comprehensive list of self-hosted services, any of which can theoretically make it to the Embassy one day. To get a general idea of what is required of an app, answer these questions: - + 1. Is it designed to be self-hosted? 2. Can it run on a Raspberry Pi? 3. If it has a P2P interface, does that interface support Tor? @@ -77,3 +77,5 @@ Depending on the app, the config options can be quite involved. Bitcoin Core, fo By reading the descriptions in the link above, as well as doing some extra searching on your favorite search engine, you can begin to discover all the crazy ways in which someone can customize their Bitcoin node. Here is another list of `possible options `_. We translated much of (but not all of) the tons of options into a clean and easy-to-use GUI with toggles, dropdowns, inputs, etc, which is what you're seeing in your config screen. If you notice the little "?" icons on the left of each option, clicking them will provide a brief description as to what the option does. Also, our config GUI restricts the possible values you can enter such that you don't accidentally crash Bitcoin. That said, be very careful about just randomly changing things, lest your node starts to behave strangely. + +You can also check out our :ref:`Service Config Spec ` documentation for further details. From 68a962ff2571de543bdff246bb7fdb78e10c4789 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Lucy Cifferello <12953208+elvece@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2021 12:00:54 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 10/10] fixed errors and copy adjustments --- source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst | 7 ++++--- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst b/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst index e2be2cd..0f40152 100644 --- a/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst +++ b/source/support/FAQ/services-faq.rst @@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ We are looking into adding as a Wireguard service for VPN access when you are no Can the Embassy run 'X' Service?? --------------------------------- -Potentially. `Here `_ is a comprehensive list of self-hosted services, any of which can theoretically make it to the Embassy one day. +Potentially. Here is a `comprehensive list `_ of self-hosted services, any of which can theoretically be run on the Embassy. To get a general idea of what is required of an app, answer these questions: 1. Is it designed to be self-hosted? @@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ To get a general idea of what is required of an app, answer these questions: If all answers are yes, then it can run on EmbassyOS. -If you are interested in packaging a service up for the Embassy, which does not require extensive development skills, please see our guide :ref:`here `. +Packing up a service for the Embassy does not require extensive development skills. If you are interested in doing do, please see our service packaging guide :ref:`here `. + We are aggressively moving away from service development in favor of a more community driven approach. Meaning you, an app development team, or anyone else on Earth, can bring the Service they want to the Embassy Marketplace. You don't need our permission. Does the Embassy operate as a Tor relay node? @@ -64,7 +65,7 @@ Yes, but only in a tor-enabled browser. Just add your .onion address as the ser I heard I can connect Specter Wallet to my Embassy; is there a guide for that? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -There is. Please look `here `_ and select based on your operating system. +There is. Please follow the integration guide `here `_ and select the tutorial based on your operating system. I don't see an answer to my question regarding a certain service. Is there more documentation? -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------