I cannot find any documentation or an option anywhere in the electrum client to put it into expert mode. I'm not even sure it can be done any longer, and it is important I raise the gap limit. It like chasing after a myth.
How do I put it in expert mode? Why has that been made so difficult? It seems against every principle of free software.
There's no Expert Mode anymore. The Gap Limit has been hidden from the UI as it was unnecessarily complicated for normal users, and it is not a good method for merchants.
If you need to change the gap limit, enter this in the Console tab and restart the client (Tested with Electrum 3.0):
wallet.change_gap_limit(10)
wallet.storage.write()
To view/verify the current gap limit, type the follwing in the console:
wallet.gap_limit
I could be wrong here, but I believe Electrum 2.5.4 uses the gap limit like a buffer, where it will always generate that many additional addresses as you use up existing ones. In other words, you'll always have that many "available" addresses.
For example, if you start a new wallet, and your gap limit is 20 (which seems to be the default), once you receive your first transaction (on the first address), a new address will be derived for you from your seed to keep the number of "unused addresses" at 20.
Looks like the algorithm for this is here: https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/blob/0dcaa13d314225826c40bf578e199adda1e5c23e/lib/wallet.py#L1551
And it looks like you can change this from the default via the command-line: https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/blob/c86ef5e8b0dcebf1940a68e8857165e6e4768920/lib/commands.py#L638
For one new address type in electrum console:
wallet.create_new_address(False)
For 100 new address type in electrum-console:
for i in range(0, 100): print wallet.create_new_address(False)
