Documentation/process: tweak pgp maintainer guide
Based on the feedback provided: - Uniformly use lowercase k in "Linux kernel" - Give a one-sentence explanation of what subkeys are - Explain what signed commits might be useful for even if upstream developers do not use them for much of anything - Admonish to set up gpg-agent if signed commits are turned on in git config - Fix a typo reported by Luc Van Oostenryck Signed-off-by: Konstantin Ryabitsev <konstantin@linuxfoundation.org> Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
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@ -18,10 +18,10 @@ The role of PGP in Linux Kernel development
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===========================================
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PGP helps ensure the integrity of the code that is produced by the Linux
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Kernel development community and, to a lesser degree, establish trusted
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kernel development community and, to a lesser degree, establish trusted
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communication channels between developers via PGP-signed email exchange.
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The Linux Kernel source code is available in two main formats:
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The Linux kernel source code is available in two main formats:
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- Distributed source repositories (git)
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- Periodic release snapshots (tarballs)
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@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ want to make sure that by placing trust into developers we do not simply
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shift the blame for potential future security incidents to someone else.
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The goal is to provide a set of guidelines developers can use to create
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a secure working environment and safeguard the PGP keys used to
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establish the integrity of the Linux Kernel itself.
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establish the integrity of the Linux kernel itself.
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.. _pgp_tools:
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@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ Protect your master PGP key
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===========================
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This guide assumes that you already have a PGP key that you use for Linux
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Kernel development purposes. If you do not yet have one, please see the
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kernel development purposes. If you do not yet have one, please see the
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"`Protecting Code Integrity`_" document mentioned earlier for guidance
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on how to create a new one.
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@ -149,7 +149,9 @@ You should also make a new key if your current one is weaker than 2048 bits
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Master key vs. Subkeys
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----------------------
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It is important to understand the following:
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Subkeys are fully independent PGP keypairs that are tied to the "master"
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key using certifying key signatures (certificates). It is important to
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understand the following:
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1. There are no technical differences between the "master key" and "subkeys."
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2. At creation time, we assign functional limitations to each key by
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@ -742,17 +744,29 @@ How to work with signed commits
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-------------------------------
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It is easy to create signed commits, but it is much more difficult to
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use them in Linux Kernel development, since it relies on patches sent to
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use them in Linux kernel development, since it relies on patches sent to
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the mailing list, and this workflow does not preserve PGP commit
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signatures.
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signatures. Furthermore, when rebasing your repository to match
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upstream, even your own PGP commit signatures will end up discarded. For
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this reason, most kernel developers don't bother signing their commits
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and will ignore signed commits in any external repositories that they
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rely upon in their work.
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If you have your working git tree publicly available at some git hosting
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service (kernel.org, infradead.org, ozlabs.org, or others), then the
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recommendation is that you sign all your git commits even if upstream
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developers do not directly benefit from this practice. Should there ever
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be a need to perform code forensics or track code provenance, even
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externally maintained trees carrying PGP commit signatures will be
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extremely valuable for such purposes.
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However, if you have your working git tree publicly available at some
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git hosting service (kernel.org, infradead.org, ozlabs.org, or others),
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then the recommendation is that you sign all your git commits even if
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upstream developers do not directly benefit from this practice.
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We recommend this for the following reasons:
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1. Should there ever be a need to perform code forensics or track code
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provenance, even externally maintained trees carrying PGP commit
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signatures will be valuable for such purposes.
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2. If you ever need to re-clone your local repository (for example,
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after a disk failure), this lets you easily verify the repository
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integrity before resuming your work.
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3. If someone needs to cherry-pick your commits, this allows them to
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quickly verify their integrity before applying them.
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Creating signed commits
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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@ -770,6 +784,10 @@ You can tell git to always sign commits::
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git config --global commit.gpgSign true
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.. note::
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Make sure you configure ``gpg-agent`` before you turn this on.
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.. _verify_identities:
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How to verify kernel developer identities
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@ -882,7 +900,7 @@ Locate the ID of the master key in the output, in our example
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``C94035C21B4F2AEB``. Now display the key of Linus Torvalds that you
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have on your keyring::
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$ git --list-key torvalds@kernel.org
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$ gpg --list-key torvalds@kernel.org
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pub rsa2048 2011-09-20 [SC]
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ABAF11C65A2970B130ABE3C479BE3E4300411886
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uid [ unknown] Linus Torvalds <torvalds@kernel.org>
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