[Feature] Add optional start_height to login / account creation / import_request

[CryptoGrampy]

I'm not sure this is the best place to make this feature request, but it would be great to be able to be able to specify a starting height on LWS /login account creation. There's not really an way to import an existing wallet (Say I want to move my Monerujo wallet to my self-hosted LWS / MyMonero setup, or say I want to use MyMonero to track donations that have been made to the Monero Art Fund) without having to manually set a height in admin settings (I think this is a thing) or re-scanning the wallet from the genesis block- this is an existing api feature (import_request) and is a bit too heavy handed.

I think it makes the most sense to add an optional start_height to the login endpoint (subsequent login requests that include the height are ignored if requestHeight <= storedHeight, and updated/rescanned otherwise), but alternatively, perhaps this makes sense to add as an optional item to import_request, or maybe both.

[vtnerd]

The current API was designed to generate revenue (for the extra load on the server) when someone needed to import an older wallet. I'm sure it could be worked out, but it would mess with some backends (as fees need to be done on a pro-rata basis).

[vtnerd]

Also, the admin utility already lets you set a specific reset height, you just can't do it from the API right now (since it tries to strictly adhere to the spec).

[paulshapiro]

Not all back-ends are going to want to charge users for scanning, such as my team's upcoming LWS reimplementation (we're planning to just do free scanning, at least initially). In the present spec, the /login endpoint already serves the function of informing the server of wallets that need scanning, as evidenced by the /login response containing the .start_height. However the /import_request endpoint is specced explicitly to re-request scanning. It would be easily expanded to include a req param of .start_height that servers which want to monetize scanning could simply persist and then wait until payment to scan from. Or they could choose to ignore it, i.e. it wouldn't break or mess with back-ends if the /import or /login endpoint were modified to allow clients to specify desired start_heights .. in fact it would only reduce load on scanners.

I also plan to submit a PR to the spec fairly soon to suggest another expansion related to scan height.

[CryptoGrampy]

Another option to resolve this issue is to add Polyseed support 😄 https://github.com/tevador/polyseed

[paulshapiro]

lol .. but the seed does not get sent to the server. a client is still going to need to communicate the start height to a scanner.

[trasherdk]

In CLI restore_height unless it's a restored wallet.