Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 1/4] doc: propose hooks managed by the config

From: Phillip Wood <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 22 May 2020 11:13:07 +0100

Hi Emily

Thanks for working on this

On 21/05/2020 19:54, Emily Shaffer wrote:
> Begin a design document for config-based hooks, managed via git-hook.
> Focus on an overview of the implementation and motivation for design
> decisions. Briefly discuss the alternatives considered before this
> point. Also, attempt to redefine terms to fit into a multihook world.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Emily Shaffer <[email-masked]>
> ---
>  Documentation/Makefile                        |   1 +
>  .../technical/config-based-hooks.txt          | 320 ++++++++++++++++++
>  2 files changed, 321 insertions(+)
>  create mode 100644 Documentation/technical/config-based-hooks.txt
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/Makefile b/Documentation/Makefile
> index 15d9d04f31..5b21f31d31 100644
> --- a/Documentation/Makefile
> +++ b/Documentation/Makefile
> @@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ SP_ARTICLES += $(API_DOCS)
>  TECH_DOCS += MyFirstContribution
>  TECH_DOCS += MyFirstObjectWalk
>  TECH_DOCS += SubmittingPatches
> +TECH_DOCS += technical/config-based-hooks
>  TECH_DOCS += technical/hash-function-transition
>  TECH_DOCS += technical/http-protocol
>  TECH_DOCS += technical/index-format
> diff --git a/Documentation/technical/config-based-hooks.txt b/Documentation/technical/config-based-hooks.txt
> new file mode 100644
> index 0000000000..59cdc25a47
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/Documentation/technical/config-based-hooks.txt
> @@ -0,0 +1,320 @@
> +Configuration-based hook management
> +===================================
> +
> +== Motivation
> +
> +Treat hooks as a first-class citizen by replacing the .git/hook/hookname path as
> +the only source of hooks to execute, in a way which is friendly to users with
> +multiple repos which have similar needs.
> +
> +Redefine "hook" as an event rather than a single script, allowing users to
> +perform unrelated actions on a single event.
> +
> +Take a step closer to safety when copying zipped Git repositories from untrusted
> +users.

Having read through this (admittedly fairly quickly) I'm not sure what
that step is

> +
> +Make it easier for users to discover Git's hook feature and automate their
> +workflows.
> +
> +== User interfaces
> +
> +=== Config schema
> +
> +Hooks can be introduced by editing the configuration manually. There are two new
> +sections added, `hook` and `hookcmd`.
> +
> +==== `hook`
> +
> +Primarily contains subsections for each hook event. These subsections define
> +hook command execution order;

May be "The order of these subsections define the hook command execution
order" ?

> hook commands can be specified by passing the
> +command directly if no additional configuration is needed, or by passing the
> +name of a `hookcmd`.

I know what you mean by "passing" but as this section is talking about
config settings perhaps it should refer to the keys and values.

> If Git does not find a `hookcmd` whose subsection matches
> +the value of the given command string, Git will try to execute the string
> +directly. Hooks are executed by passing the resolved command string to the
> +shell.

Do we really need to invoke the shell just to split a command-line and
look up the command in $PATH? If we used split_commandline() in alias.c
then we could avoid invoking this extra process for each hook command.

> Hook event subsections can also contain per-hook-event settings.
> +
> +Also contains top-level hook execution settings, for example,
> +`hook.warnHookDir`, `hook.runHookDir`, or `hook.disableAll`.

(see sections ...) ? for the forward references to these settings?

> +
> +----
> +[hook "pre-commit"]
> +  command = perl-linter
> +  command = /usr/bin/git-secrets --pre-commit
> +
> +[hook "pre-applypatch"]
> +  command = perl-linter
> +  error = ignore
> +
> +[hook]
> +  runHookDir = interactive
> +----
> +
> +==== `hookcmd`
> +
> +Defines a hook command and its attributes, which will be used when a hook event
> +occurs. Unqualified attributes are assumed to apply to this hook during all hook
> +events, but event-specific attributes can also be supplied. The example runs
> +`/usr/bin/lint-it --language=perl <args passed by Git>`, but for repos which
> +include this config, the hook command will be skipped for all events to which
> +it's normally subscribed _except_ `pre-commit`.
> +
> +----
> +[hookcmd "perl-linter"]
> +  command = /usr/bin/lint-it --language=perl
> +  skip = true
> +  pre-commit-skip = false
> +----
> +
> +=== Command-line API
> +
> +Users should be able to view, reorder, and create hook commands via the command
> +line. External tools should be able to view a list of hooks in the correct order
> +to run.
> +
> +*`git hook list <hook-event>`*
> +
> +*`git hook list (--system|--global|--local|--worktree)`*
> +
> +*`git hook edit <hook-event>`*
> +
> +*`git hook add <hook-command> <hook-event> <options...>`*
> +
> +=== Hook editor
> +
> +The tool which is presented by `git hook edit <hook-command>`. Ideally, this
> +tool should be easier to use than manually editing the config, and then produce
> +a concise config afterwards. It may take a form similar to `git rebase
> +--interactive`.

rebase -i is not necessarily an exemplar of user interface design, what
sort of thing do you have in mind?

> +
> +== Implementation
> +
> +=== Library
> +
> +`hook.c` and `hook.h` are responsible for interacting with the config files. In
> +the case when the code generating a hook event doesn't have special concerns
> +about how to run the hooks, the hook library will provide a basic API to call
> +all hooks in config order with an `argv_array` provided by the code which
> +generates the hook event:
> +
> +*`int run_hooks(const char *hookname, struct argv_array *args)`*
> +
> +This call includes the hook command provided by `run-command.h:find_hook()`;
> +eventually, this legacy hook will be gated by a config `hook.runHookDir`. The
> +config is checked against a number of cases:
> +
> +- "no": the legacy hook will not be run
> +- "interactive": Git will prompt the user before running the legacy hook
> +- "warn": Git will print a warning to stderr before running the legacy hook
> +- "yes" (default): Git will silently run the legacy hook
> +
> +In case this list is expanded in the future, if a value for `hook.runHookDir` is
> +given which Git does not recognize, Git should discard that config entry. For
> +example, if "warn" was specified at system level and "junk" was specified at
> +global level, Git would resolve the value to "warn"; if the only time the config
> +was set was to "junk", Git would use the default value of "yes".
> +
> +If the caller wants to do something more complicated, the hook library can also
> +provide a callback API:
> +
> +*`int for_each_hookcmd(const char *hookname, hookcmd_function *cb)`*
> +
> +Finally, to facilitate the builtin, the library will also provide the following
> +APIs to interact with the config:
> +
> +----
> +int set_hook_commands(const char *hookname, struct string_list *commands,
> +	enum config_scope scope);
> +int set_hookcmd(const char *hookcmd, struct hookcmd options);
> +
> +int list_hook_commands(const char *hookname, struct string_list *commands);
> +int list_hooks_in_scope(enum config_scope scope, struct string_list *commands);
> +----
> +
> +`struct hookcmd` is expected to grow in size over time as more functionality is
> +added to hooks; so that other parts of the code don't need to understand the
> +config schema, `struct hookcmd` should contain logical values instead of string
> +pairs.
> +
> +----
> +struct hookcmd {
> +  const char *name;
> +  const char *command;
> +
> +  /* for illustration only; not planned at present */
> +  int parallelizable;
> +  const char *hookcmd_before;
> +  const char *hookcmd_after;
> +  enum recovery_action on_fail;
> +}
> +----
> +
> +=== Builtin
> +
> +`builtin/hook.c` is responsible for providing the frontend. It's responsible for
> +formatting user-provided data and then calling the library API to set the
> +configs as appropriate. The builtin frontend is not responsible for calling the
> +config directly, so that other areas of Git can rely on the hook library to
> +understand the most recent config schema for hooks.
> +
> +=== Migration path
> +
> +==== Stage 0
> +
> +Hooks are called by running `run-command.h:find_hook()` with the hookname and
> +executing the result. The hook library and builtin do not exist. Hooks only
> +exist as specially named scripts within `.git/hooks/`.
> +
> +==== Stage 1
> +
> +`git hook list --porcelain <hook-event>` is implemented. Users can replace their
> +`.git/hooks/<hook-event>` scripts with a trampoline based on `git hook list`'s
> +output. Modifier commands like `git hook add` and `git hook edit` can be
> +implemented around this time as well.
> +
> +==== Stage 2
> +
> +`hook.h:run_hooks()` is taught to include `run-command.h:find_hook()` at the
> +end; calls to `find_hook()` are replaced with calls to `run_hooks()`. Users can
> +opt-in to config-based hooks simply by creating some in their config; otherwise
> +users should remain unaffected by the change.
> +
> +==== Stage 3
> +
> +The call to `find_hook()` inside of `run_hooks()` learns to check for a config,
> +`hook.runHookDir`. Users can opt into managing their hooks completely via the
> +config this way.
> +
> +==== Stage 4
> +
> +`.git/hooks` is removed from the template and the hook directory is considered
> +deprecated. To avoid breaking older repos, the default of `hook.runHookDir` is
> +not changed, and `find_hook()` is not removed.
> +
> +== Caveats
> +
> +=== Security and repo config
> +
> +Part of the motivation behind this refactor is to mitigate hooks as an attack
> +vector;footnote:[https://lore.kernel.org/git/[email-masked]/]
> +however, as the design stands, users can still provide hooks in the repo-level
> +config, which is included when a repo is zipped and sent elsewhere.  The
> +security of the repo-level config is still under discussion; this design
> +generally assumes the repo-level config is secure, which is not true yet. The
> +goal is to avoid an overcomplicated design to work around a problem which has
> +ceased to exist.
> +
> +=== Ease of use
> +
> +The config schema is nontrivial; that's why it's important for the `git hook`
> +modifier commands to be usable.

That's an important point

> Contributors with UX expertise are encouraged to
> +share their suggestions.
> +
> +== Alternative approaches
> +
> +A previous summary of alternatives exists in the
> +archives.footnote:[https://lore.kernel.org/git/[email-masked]]
> +
> +=== Status quo
> +
> +Today users can implement multihooks themselves by using a "trampoline script"
> +as their hook, and pointing that script to a directory or list of other scripts
> +they wish to run.
> +
> +=== Hook directories
> +
> +Other contributors have suggested Git learn about the existence of a directory
> +such as `.git/hooks/<hookname>.d` and execute those hooks in alphabetical order.
> +
> +=== Comparison table
> +
> +.Comparison of alternatives
> +|===
> +|Feature |Config-based hooks |Hook directories |Status quo
> +
> +|Supports multiple hooks
> +|Natively
> +|Natively
> +|With user effort
> +
> +|Safer for zipped repos
> +|A little
> +|No
> +|No
> +
> +|Previous hooks just work
> +|If configured
> +|Yes
> +|Yes
> +
> +|Can install one hook to many repos
> +|Yes
> +|No
> +|No
> +
> +|Discoverability
> +|Better (in `git help git`)
> +|Same as before
> +|Same as before
> +
> +|Hard to run unexpected hook
> +|If configured
> +|No
> +|No
> +|===
> +
> +== Future work
> +
> +=== Execution ordering
> +
> +We may find that config order is insufficient for some users; for example,
> +config order makes it difficult to add a new hook to the system or global config
> +which runs at the end of the hook list. A new ordering schema should be:
> +
> +1) Specified by a `hook.order` config, so that users will not unexpectedly see
> +their order change;
> +
> +2) Either dependency or numerically based.
> +
> +Dependency-based ordering is prone to classic linked-list problems, like a
> +cycles and handling of missing dependencies. But, it paves the way for enabling
> +parallelization if some tasks truly depend on others.
> +
> +Numerical ordering makes it tricky for Git to generate suggested ordering
> +numbers for each command, but is easy to determine a definitive order.
> +
> +=== Parallelization
> +
> +Users with many hooks might want to run them simultaneously, if the hooks don't
> +modify state; if one hook depends on another's output, then users will want to
> +specify those dependencies. If we decide to solve this problem, we may want to
> +look to modern build systems for inspiration on how to manage dependencies and
> +parallel tasks.
> +
> +=== Securing hookdir hooks
> +
> +With the design as written in this doc, it's still possible for a malicious user
> +to modify `.git/config` to include `hook.pre-receive.command = rm -rf /`, then
> +zip their repo and send it to another user. It may be necessary to teach Git to
> +only allow one-line hooks like this if they were configured outside of the local
> +scope;

Does "disabling one-line hooks" mean "disable passing command line
arguments to the hook"? I'm not sure that gains much security - can't I
just set 'hook.pre-receive.command = ./delete-everything' and include
delete-everything in my malicious repo?

Best Wishes

Phillip

> or another approach, like a list of safe projects, might be useful. It
> +may also be sufficient (or at least useful) to teach a `hook.disableAll` config
> +or similar flag to the Git executable.
> +
> +=== Submodule inheritance
> +
> +It's possible some submodules may want to run the identical set of hooks that
> +their superrepo runs. While a globally-configured hook set is helpful, it's not
> +a great solution for users who have multiple repos-with-submodules under the
> +same user. It would be useful for submodules to learn how to run hooks from
> +their superrepo's config, or inherit that hook setting.
> +
> +== Glossary
> +
> +*hook event*
> +
> +A point during Git's execution where user scripts may be run, for example,
> +_prepare-commit-msg_ or _pre-push_.
> +
> +*hook command*
> +
> +A user script or executable which will be run on one or more hook events.
>