[Pkg-bitcoin-devel] Please package Electrum 2.5.1 for Wheezy-Backports - the existing package now throws frequent errors due to incompatibility with newly-standardized BIP62

[gofixit at ruggedinbox.com]

Hello wonderful dev peoples,

Some users are encountering the following error (or similar) when using
the current Wheezy-Backports version of Electrum to send a Bitcoin
transaction:

"Your client produced a transaction that is not accepted by the Bitcoin
network any more. Please upgrade to Electrum 2.5.1 or newer"

This is thrown by some particular Electrum servers due to the recent
adoption in Bitcoin Core of BIP62 (see
https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0062.mediawiki ) which was
implemented rapidly to deal with the urgent transaction malleability
issues that were degrading the network until very recently.

Because of this change in Bitcoin's core consensus mechanisms, versions of
Electrum prior to 2.5.1 are now largely useless!

Many people rely on Electrum as it exists in Wheezy-Backports - Wheezy is
still the platform of choice for many secure environments, most notably
the Tails operating system which includes Electrum 1.9.8, as pulled
directly from Wheezy-Backports. See this entry on the Tails Trac about
this issue: https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/9713 . Using the in-built
Electrum wallet in Tails is now one of the most recommended methods for
creating a secure Bitcoin Paper Wallet (by writing down the 12-word seed),
as it can be generated offline quickly, simply, and with ease - while
retaining excellent security.

Bringing Electrum 2.5.1 to Wheezy-Backports would be an enormous asset to
the privacy and Bitcoin communities, and help re-affirm Debian's mission
in making free and effective software available to all, especially to
those who need it most.

Thank you so much for your consideration. If I had the skills myself, I'd
leap at the chance to assist in this endeavor, but unfortunately I do not,
so I must request that you fine folks work to do it instead. What you do
is truly appreciated and has impacts and benefits that extend far beyond
what you might even consider possible - know that in your hearts. Thank
you.