Can monero-wallet-cli be run as a light wallet?

Question

I've set up a Monero node on my server machine ("barrow.home", 10.8.0.1 on my VPN), which is not entrusted with any private keys.

/opt/monero/monero-v0.11.0.0/monerod --non-interactive \
  --config-file /srv/monero/monero.conf

monero.conf:

log-file=/srv/monero/monero.log
data-dir=/bulk/monero/data
rpc-bind-ip=10.8.0.1
confirm-external-bind=1
hide-my-port=1
no-igd=1

From the log file it seems to be working correctly and synced up to the latest block (1409151).

On my laptop, I'm trying to run a "light" CLI client, also v.0.11.0.0, using the server as the full node:

monero-wallet-cli --daemon-host barrow.home --trusted-daemon \
  --restore-deterministic-wallet --restore-height 1335000 \
  --generate-new-wallet=temp --password ""

I type in my seed for an account for which the first transaction was after block 1335000. Everything works... eventually. But it still takes hours for the client to sync with the server. And as far as I can tell, the --restore-height option makes no difference.

So my question is: is there any way to get a "light wallet" experience with a client that only runs occasionally and a server that doesn't hold private keys?

Answer 1

This is a bug: the restore height should have been taken into account. If you don't specify a restore height, it actually works (you get asked for one, which is used). This will be fixed.