Subject: [PATCH v2] ssh signing: better error message when key not in agent

From: "Adam Szkoda via GitGitGadget" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2023 15:26:11 +0000

From: Adam Szkoda <[email-masked]>

When signing a commit with a SSH key, with the private key missing from
ssh-agent, a confusing error message is produced:

    error: Load key
    "/var/folders/t5/cscwwl_n3n1_8_5j_00x_3t40000gn/T//.git_signing_key_tmpkArSj7":
    invalid format? fatal: failed to write commit object

The temporary file .git_signing_key_tmpkArSj7 created by git contains a
valid *public* key.  The error message comes from `ssh-keygen -Y sign' and
is caused by a fallback mechanism in ssh-keygen whereby it tries to
interpret .git_signing_key_tmpkArSj7 as a *private* key if it can't find in
the agent [1].  A fix is scheduled to be released in OpenSSH 9.1. All that
needs to be done is to pass an additional backward-compatible option -U to
'ssh-keygen -Y sign' call.  With '-U', ssh-keygen always interprets the file
as public key and expects to find the private key in the agent.

As a result, when the private key is missing from the agent, a more accurate
error message gets produced:

    error: Couldn't find key in agent

[1] https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3429

Signed-off-by: Adam Szkoda <[email-masked]>
---
    ssh signing: better error message when key not in agent
    
    When signing a commit with a SSH key, with the private key missing from
    ssh-agent, a confusing error message is produced:
    
    error: Load key "/var/folders/t5/cscwwl_n3n1_8_5j_00x_3t40000gn/T//.git_signing_key_tmpkArSj7": invalid format?
    fatal: failed to write commit object

    The temporary file .git_signing_key_tmpkArSj7 created by git contains a
    valid public key. The error message comes from `ssh-keygen -Y sign' and
    is caused by a fallback mechanism in ssh-keygen whereby it tries to
    interpret .git_signing_key_tmpkArSj7 as a private key if it can't find
    in the agent [1]. A fix is scheduled to be released in OpenSSH 9.1. All
    that needs to be done is to pass an additional backward-compatible
    option -U to 'ssh-keygen -Y sign' call. With '-U', ssh-keygen always
    interprets the file as public key and expects to find the private key in
    the agent.
    
    As a result, when the private key is missing from the agent, a more
    accurate error message gets produced:
    
    error: Couldn't find key in agent

    [1] https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3429

Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-git-1270%2Fradicle-dev%2Fmaint-v2
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-git-1270/radicle-dev/maint-v2
Pull-Request: https://github.com/git/git/pull/1270

Range-diff vs v1:

 1:  0ce06076242 < -:  ----------- ssh signing: better error message when key not in agent
 -:  ----------- > 1:  03dfca79387 ssh signing: better error message when key not in agent

 gpg-interface.c | 15 ++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/gpg-interface.c b/gpg-interface.c
index f877a1ea564..33899a450eb 100644
--- a/gpg-interface.c
+++ b/gpg-interface.c
@@ -998,6 +998,7 @@ static int sign_buffer_ssh(struct strbuf *buffer, struct strbuf *signature,
 	char *ssh_signing_key_file = NULL;
 	struct strbuf ssh_signature_filename = STRBUF_INIT;
 	const char *literal_key = NULL;
+	int literal_ssh_key = 0;
 
 	if (!signing_key || signing_key[0] == '\0')
 		return error(
@@ -1005,6 +1006,7 @@ static int sign_buffer_ssh(struct strbuf *buffer, struct strbuf *signature,
 
 	if (is_literal_ssh_key(signing_key, &literal_key)) {
 		/* A literal ssh key */
+		literal_ssh_key = 1;
 		key_file = mks_tempfile_t(".git_signing_key_tmpXXXXXX");
 		if (!key_file)
 			return error_errno(
@@ -1036,11 +1038,14 @@ static int sign_buffer_ssh(struct strbuf *buffer, struct strbuf *signature,
 	}
 
 	strvec_pushl(&signer.args, use_format->program,
-		     "-Y", "sign",
-		     "-n", "git",
-		     "-f", ssh_signing_key_file,
-		     buffer_file->filename.buf,
-		     NULL);
+			"-Y", "sign",
+			"-n", "git",
+			"-f", ssh_signing_key_file,
+			NULL);
+	if (literal_ssh_key) {
+		strvec_push(&signer.args, "-U");
+	}
+	strvec_push(&signer.args, buffer_file->filename.buf);
 
 	sigchain_push(SIGPIPE, SIG_IGN);
 	ret = pipe_command(&signer, NULL, 0, NULL, 0, &signer_stderr, 0);

base-commit: 844ede312b4e988881b6e27e352f469d8ab80b2a
-- 
gitgitgadget