Imported Upstream version 0.2.7upstream_keyringer_0.2.7

1 files changed, 138 insertions, 83 deletions

diff --git a/share/man/keyringer.1.mdwn b/share/man/keyringer.1.mdwn
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--- a/share/man/keyringer.1.mdwn
+++ b/share/man/keyringer.1.mdwn
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 % KEYRINGER(1) Keyringer User Manual
-% Silvio Rhatto
-% Sep 10, 2013
+% Silvio Rhatto <rhatto@riseup.net>
+% Oct 25, 2013
 
 # NAME
 
@@ -12,159 +12,214 @@ keyringer <*keyring*> <*action*> [*options*]...
 
 # DESCRIPTION
 
-Keyringer lets you manage and share secrets using GPG and git with custom
-commands to encrypt, decrypt, recrypt, create key pairs, etc.
+Keyringer lets you manage and share secrets using GnuPG and Git in a
+distributed fashion.
 
-Secrets are encrypted using GPG and added to a git tree so later then can
-be synced with remote branches.
+It has custom commands to create key-pairs and to encrypt, decrypt and
+re-encrypt secrets. It also supports encryption to multiple recipients
+and groups of recipients, to allow a workgroup to share access to a single
+repository while restricting some secrets to subsets of the group.
+
+Secrets are encrypted using GPG and added to a Git tree so that they can be
+synced with remote branches later.
 
 # ACTIONS
 
 Keyringer has three types of actions:
 
-1. Repository lookup and manipulation actions.
-2. Secret manipulation actions.
-3. Configuration actions.
+1. Repository lookup and manipulation actions, which handle repository initialization,
+   content tracking and navigation.
+
+2. Secret manipulation actions, which take care of encrypting, decrypting and other
+   read/write operations on secrets.
+
+3. Configuration actions, handling repository metadata.
 
-## REPOSITORY LOOKUP AND MANIPULATION ACTIONS
+# REPOSITORY LOOKUP AND MANIPULATION ACTIONS
 
 init <*path*> [*remote*]
-:  Initialize a new keyringer repository. If a *remote* URL is specified, keyringer will
-   clone an existing repository.
+:   Initialize a new keyringer repository. If a *remote* URL is specified, keyringer will
+    clone an existing repository.
 
-   After initialization, *path* will contain a folder structure for storing secrets
-   and metadata (user aka recipients, groups of recipients, etc).
+    After initialization, *path* will contain a folder structure for storing secrets
+    and metadata (user aka recipients, groups of recipients, etc).
 
-   Also, an entry on `$HOME/.keyringer/config` will be added allowing keyringer to
-   find the keyring by it's alias.
+    Also, an entry will be added to `$HOME/.keyringer/config` allowing keyringer to
+    find the keyring by its alias.
 
 git <*action*> <*options*>
-:  Git wrapper that operates from the toplevel keyring repository. You can issue any
-   *GIT(1)* subcommand with this action that it will be applied into the keyring repository.
+:   Git wrapper that operates from the toplevel keyring repository. You can issue any
+    *GIT(1)* subcommand with this action to have it applied in the keyring repository.
 
 ls <*path*>
-:  List contents from the toplevel repository *keys* folder or from relative paths
-   if *path* is specified. Like the git wrapper, this is a wrapper around the *LS(1)*
-   command.
+:   List contents from the toplevel repository *keys* folder or from relative paths
+    if *path* is specified. Like the git wrapper, this is a wrapper around the *LS(1)*
+    command.
 
-## SECRET MANIPULATION ACTIONS
+# SECRET MANIPULATION ACTIONS
 
-All secret manipulation actions operates upon a *secret* which is the pathname
-of an encrypted file relative to keyring with optional `.asc` extension.
+All secret manipulation actions operate upon a *secret* which is the pathname
+of an encrypted file relative to the keyring with optional `.asc` extension.
 
-If the `.asc` extension is ommited, keyringer will add it in the end of the
+If the `.asc` extension is omitted, keyringer will add it at the end of the
 pathname.
 
 No spaces are allowed in the secret name.
 
 Secret manipulation actions do not commit changes into the secret repository.
-After any manipulation, the user has to manually commit the changes using the
-git wrapper action.
+Instead, the user has to manually commit the changes using the git wrapper
+action.
 
 append <*secret*>
-:  Append contents into a secret.
+:   Append contents into a secret by decrypting the secret, appending lines read
+    from the standard input and encrypting again.
 
 append-batch <*secret*>
-:  Append contents into a secret, batch mode.
+:   Append contents into a secret, batch mode.
 
 decrypt <*secret*>
-:  Decrypts a secret into standard output.
+:   Decrypts a secret into standard output.
 
 del <*secret*>
-:  Removes a secret using git. After deleting a secret a git commit and push is still
-   needed to update remote repositories. To completely remove a file from a keyring,
-   you should also rewrite the git history by yourself.
+:   Removes a secret using Git. After deleting a secret a git commit and push is still
+    needed to update remote repositories.
+
+    Please note that this command **does not remove the secret from the Git history.**
+    To completely remove a file from a keyring, you should also rewrite the Git
+    history yourself.
 
 edit <*secret*>
-:  Edits a secret by temporarily decrypting it, opening the decrypted copy into the 
-   text editor defined by the *$EDITOR* environment variable and then recrypting it
-   again.
+:   Edit a secret by temporarily decrypting it, opening the decrypted copy into the 
+    text editor defined by the *$EDITOR* environment variable and then re-encrypting it.
 
-encrypt [*file*] <*secret*>
-:  Encrypts content from standard input or *file* into *secret* pathname. No spaces
-   are supported in the *file* name.
+encrypt <*secret*> [*file*]
+:   Encrypts content from standard input or *file* into *secret* pathname. No spaces
+    are supported in the *secret* name.
 
 encrypt-batch <*secret*>
-:  Encrypt content, batch mode.
+:   Encrypt content, batch mode.
 
 genpair <*ssh*|*gpg*|*ssl*|*ssl-self*> [*options*]
-:  Wrapper to generete encryption keypairs, useful for automated key deployment.
+:   Wrapper to generate encryption key-pairs, useful for automated key deployment.
 
 open <*secret*>
-:  Open a secret using xdg-open.
+:   Decrypt a secret into a temporary folder and open it using xdg-open, which
+    tries to figure out the file type and then calls the associated application.
+
+    After the application exits, keyringer encrypts the temporary decrypted file
+    again into the secret file and deletes the temporary file.
 
 recrypt <*secret*>
-:  Recrypts a secret by decrypting it and recrypting again. Useful when users are added
-   into recipient configuration. If no *secret* is given, all secrets in the repository
-   are re-encrypted.
+:   Re-encrypts a secret by decrypting it and encrypting it again. Useful when users are added
+    into the recipient configuration. If no *secret* is given, all secrets in the repository
+    are re-encrypted.
 
-## CONFIGURATION ACTIONS
+# CONFIGURATION ACTIONS
 
 commands
-:  List available actions, useful for shell completion and syntax check.
+:   List available actions, useful for shell completion and syntax check.
 
 options <*ls*|*edit*|*add*>
-:  List, edit or add miscelaneous *repository* options.
+:   List, edit or add miscellaneous *repository* options.
 
-   Repository options are specific configurations for the keyring which are
-   saved into the repository, making it available for all users with access to the
-   repository and hence is a *global* configuration stanza for a given keyring.
+    Repository options are settings which are saved in the repository as a *global*
+    configuration stanza for a given keyring, shared by all users with access to
+    the repository.
+
+    Options are written using the *KEY=VALUE* syntax. All lines starting with the
+    hash (#) character are interpreted as comments.
 
 preferences <*ls*|*edit*|*add*>
-:  List, edit or add *user* preferences for a given repository.
+:   List, edit or add *user* preferences for a given repository.
+
+    User preferences are settings which are saved in the user's keyringer folder
+    (`$HOME/.keyringer/`), and not shared with the other users.
 
-   User preferences are specific configurations for the keyring which are
-   saved into the user's keyringer folder (`$HOME/.keyringer/`) hence not
-   shared with the other users.
+    Preferences are written using the *KEY=VALUE* syntax. All lines starting with the
+    hash (#) character are interpreted as comments.
 
-recipients <*ls*|*edit*> <*recipient-file*>
-:  List or edit recipient configuration.
+usage
+:   Show keyringer usage information.
 
-   Recipient files are lists of OpenPGP public key fingerprints which are used
-   by keyringer when encrypting secrets.
+recipients <*ls*|*edit*> <*recipients-file*>
+:   List, create or edit recipients configuration.
 
-   Keyringer uses a default recipient file and supports custom *recipient-files* which
-   overrides the default recipient file according to it's matching pathname.
+    Recipients files are lists of OpenPGP public key fingerprints which are used
+    by keyringer when encrypting secrets and associated with email aliases.
 
-   For instance, a the *recipient-file* called *accounting* will be used
-   wherever a user encrypts a secret to a file residing from the *accounting*
-   folder in the keyring repository. In that case, encrypting a secret into
-   *accounting/bank-accounts* will result in a file
-   `$KEYRING_FOLDER/keys/accounting/bank-accounts.asc` encrypted using the
-   public keys listed in `$KEYRING_FOLDER/config/recipients/accounting` config
-   file.
+    Keyringer uses a default recipients file, but specifying a custom *recipients-file*
+    pathname will override this default.
 
-### OPTIONS
+    For instance, if a user encrypts a secret to a file in the keyring repository's
+    *accounting* folder, a *recipients-file* under *accounting* will be used.
+    Encrypting a secret into *accounting/bank-accounts* will result in a file
+   `$KEYRING_FOLDER/keys/accounting/bank-accounts.asc` encrypted using the public
+    keys listed in the config file`$KEYRING_FOLDER/config/recipients/accounting`.
 
-ls
-:  List all existing recipient files.
+    Each line in a recipients file has entries in the format
+    'john@doe.com XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX', where *john@doe.com*
+    is an alias for the GPG public key whose fingerprint is
+    *XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.*
 
-edit
-:  Create or edit a recipient-file.
+    All lines starting with the hash (#) character are interpreted as comments.
 
-   Edition happens using the editor specified by the `$EDITOR`
-   environment variable.
+    Parameters to the *recipients* action are:
 
-   The required parameter *recipient-file* is taken relativelly
-   from the `$KEYRING_FOLDER/config/recipients/` folder.
+      *ls*
+      :   List all existing recipients files.
 
-usage
-:  Show keyringer usage information.
+      *edit*
+      :   Create or edit a recipients file.
+
+          Editing happens using the editor specified by the `$EDITOR`
+          environment variable.
+
+          The required parameter *recipients-file* is interpreted relative
+          to the `$KEYRING_FOLDER/config/recipients/` folder.
 
 # FILES
 
 $HOME/.keyringer/config
-: User's main configuration file used to map alias names to keyrings.
+:  User's main configuration file used to map alias names to keyrings.
 
 $HOME/.keyringer/*keyring*
-: User preferences for the keyringer aliased *keyring* keyring.
+:  User preferences for the keyringer aliased *keyring* keyring.
 
 $KEYRING_FOLDER/config/options
-: Custom keyring options which will be applied for all users that use
-  the keyringer repository.
+:  Custom keyring options which will be applied for all users that use
+   the keyringer repository.
 
 # LIMITATIONS
 
+Keyringer currently has the following limitations:
+
+1. Metadata is not encrypted, meaning that an attacker with access to a keyringer
+  repository can discover all public key IDs used for encryption, and which secrets
+  are encrypted to which keys. This can be improved in the future by encrypting
+  the repository configuration with support for the *--hidden-recipient* GnuPG
+  option.
+
+2. History is not rewritten by default when secrets are removed from a keyringer
+  repository. After a secret is removed with the *del* action, it will still be
+  available in the repository history even after a commit. This is by design
+  for the following reasons:
+
+  - It's the default behavior of the Git content tracker. Forcing the
+     deletion by default could break the expected behavior and hence limit
+     the repository's backup features, which can be helpful if someone
+     mistakenly overwrites a secret.
+
+  - History rewriting cannot be considered a security measure against the
+     unauthorized access to a secret as it doesn't automatically update all
+     working copies of the repository.
+
+     In the case that the secret is a passphrase, the recommended measure
+     against such attacks is to change the passphrase, making useless the
+     knowledge of the previous secret.
+
+     Users wishing to edit their repository history should proceed manually
+     using the *git* action.
+
 # SEE ALSO
 
 The *README* file distributed with Keyringer contains full documentation.