GNU bug report logs - #17625
details of package signing mechanism

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Package: emacs;

Reported by: Eric Abrahamsen <eric <at> ericabrahamsen.net>

Date: Thu, 29 May 2014 03:12:01 UTC

Severity: important

Tags: security

Found in version 24.4.50

Done: Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> iro.umontreal.ca>

Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.

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From: Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> iro.umontreal.ca>
To: Daiki Ueno <ueno <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 17625 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#17625: 24.4.50; All installed packages marked "unsigned", no archive listed
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 15:51:25 -0400
SM> Whereas the feature you're discussing seems to be to indicate which
SM> candidates for installation have a signature available for checking
SM> (this is not implemented, AFAICT).
> Is there a plan to implement the latter feature and can I help? I recall
> some discussions months ago but no definite plan.

I see 3 behaviors for it:
- Mention at package-installation time that there's no signature to check,
  maybe with a prompt to confirm the user really wants to go ahead.
  This is more or less the route taken by APT, AFAIK (at least, seen
  from the user's point of view).
- Keep track of which archives have signatures and which don't (e.g. by
  assuming that if `archive-contents' has a sig, then the packages also
  have sigs).  Then somehow display this info in the package list.
- Check each and every package to see if it has a sig.  This implies
  a lot more network communication, AFAICT, so I think it's not
  a good idea.

The first behavior OTOH should be very easy to implement.


        Stefan




This bug report was last modified 10 years and 236 days ago.

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