Cardano-cli signing a transaction without directly accessing the .skey file in plain text

ATADA · 5 August 2022 18:04

This may also be related to the issue i posted here:

[BUG] - CLI is not allowing process substitution on certain commands

opened 03:58PM - 26 Jul 22 UTC

bug Vasil

**_Cardano-CLI 1.34.1_** In the past it was no problem to use a common practi…ce in linux to not write out files directly (if you only need them in ram) and use a process substitution -> file handler instead. For some commands in the CLI this is still working like (example): **Setting up the variables** `protocolParametersJSON=` ``` json { "collateralPercentage": 150, "costModels": { "PlutusScriptV1": { "addInteger-cpu-arguments-intercept": 205665, "addInteger-cpu-arguments-slope": 812, "addInteger-memory-arguments-intercept": 1, "addInteger-memory-arguments-slope": 1, "....etc....etc.......", "stakePoolTargetNum": 500, "treasuryCut": 0.2, "txFeeFixed": 155381, "txFeePerByte": 44, "utxoCostPerWord": 34480 } ``` ``` console txBodyFile="/home/user/mytransaction.txbody"; txcnt=1; rxcnt=2; magicparam="--mainnet"; etc ... ``` **Executing the command** ```console cardano-cli transaction calculate-min-fee \ --tx-body-file ${txBodyFile} \ --protocol-params-file <(echo "${protocolParametersJSON}") \ --tx-in-count ${txcnt} \ --tx-out-count ${rxcnt} \ ${magicparam} ... ``` The part i am talking about is `<(echo "${protocolParametersJSON}")`, **this is working fine for the command above**. 👍 ----- But in other commands for example for the tx-file content, this is not working anymore: **Setting up a variable** `txFileJSON=` ```json { "type": "Witnessed Tx AlonzoEra", "description": "Ledger Cddl Format", "cborHex": "84a5008282582055c90e5f39ee7e638da909.....64732c204d617274696e203a2d29" } ``` **Executing the command** ``` console cardano-cli transaction txid --tx-file <(echo "${txFileJSON}") cardano-cli transaction submit --tx-file <(echo "${txFileJSON}") --mainnet ``` **Results into the following error** 😢 ``` console Command failed: transaction txid Error: Failed to decode neither the cli's serialisation format nor the ledger's CDDL serialisation format. TextEnvelope error: /dev/fd/63: TextEnvelope type error: Expected one of: TxSignedByron, TxSignedShelley, Tx AllegraEra, Tx MaryEra, Tx AlonzoEra, Tx BabbageEra Actual: Witnessed Tx AlonzoEra TextEnvelopeCddl error: /dev/fd/63: Could not JSON decode TextEnvelopeCddl file at: /dev/fd/63 Error: Error in $: not enough input ``` **So this is not working anymore.** If you write out the content to a file and use the filename it works. But why/how was this changed? **It worked in previous versions of the CLI.** ----- As a simple demo that it is not an OS issue we create a simple script that is showing the content of a file: **_showfile.sh:_** ``` console #!/bin/bash whatever_file="${1}" cat "${whatever_file}" ``` **Execute the script with the process substitution like above:** ``` console ./showfile.sh <(echo "${txFileJSON}") { "type": "Witnessed Tx AlonzoEra", "description": "Ledger Cddl Format", "cborHex": "84a5008282582055c90e5f39ee7e638da909.....64732c204d617274696e203a2d29" } ``` All good. So, something changed in the CLI and it would be good to fix it so it can be used like any other linux program together with process substitution on all parameters.

COSDpool · 18 August 2022 04:35

looks like there’s some progress on this issue …though hard to tell which cardano-cli version the fix would be included in:

Topic		Replies	Views
Payment.skey and stake.skey from command line Setup a Stake Pool	1	745	8 March 2021
Best practises to store cold keys (cold.vkey, cold.skey) Stake Pool Security	14	2472	4 September 2021
How do I Generate vkey from skey for stake and payment keys Setup a Stake Pool	3	590	22 January 2022
Adress and keys - second generation Native Tokens	0	499	18 August 2021
Using the command line, I need some help with a simple time-lock script Cardano Integration	0	275	16 October 2023

Cardano-cli signing a transaction without directly accessing the .skey file in plain text

Related Topics