add location for the xpi download

[monkeysphere.git] / doc / MonkeySpec

diff --git a/doc/MonkeySpec b/doc/MonkeySpec
index b0a0d6a10d203f81141d5ed5a059234d97928db7..66f44b05b8b08361392663b3e1e17cd5dbca6d27 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/MonkeySpec
+++ b/doc/MonkeySpec
@@ -1,59 +1,23 @@
 THE MONKEYSPHERE
 ================
 
 THE MONKEYSPHERE
 ================
 

-AGENDA
-======
-[x] clowning
-[ ] work
-[x] jrollins will talk and gesture - in progress
-
-MONKEYNAMES
-===========
-
-rhesus, marmoset, howler, langur, tamarin, barbary
-
-COMPONENTS
-==========
-
-(names in "" are code names until we think of better ones.)
-
-common components
------------------
-* "rhesus": update known_hosts/authorized_keys files:
-  - be responsible for removing keys from the file as key revocation
-    happens
-  - be responsible for updating a key in the file where there is a key
-    replacement
-  - must result in a file that is parsable by the existing ssh client
-    without errors
-  - manual management must be allowed without stomping on it
-  - provide a simple, intelligible, clear policy for key acceptance
-
-* "langur": policy-editor for viewing/editing policies
-
-* gpg2ssh: utility to convert gpg keys to ssh
-  known_hosts/authorized_keys lines
-
-* ssh2gpg: create openpgp keypair from ssh keypair
+Monkeysphere is authentication layer that allows the sysadmin to
+perform authorization on OpenPGP user identities instead of on keys.
+It also allows end users to authenticate/identify the ssh server they
+are connecting to by checking the sysadmin's certification.

 
 

-server-side components
-----------------------
-* "howler": server gpg maintainer
-  - generates gpg keys for the server
-  - publishes server gpg keys
-  - used to specify userids to trust for user authentication
+* GENERAL GOAL - use openpgp web-of-trust to authenticate ppl for SSH
+* SPECIFIC GOAL - allow openssh to tie into pgp web-of-trust without
+  modifying the openpgp spec, gpg or openssh 
+* DESIGN GOALS - authentication, use the existing generic OpenSSH
+  client, the admin can make it default, although end-user should be
+  decide to use monkeysphere or not 
+* DESIGN GOAL - use of monkeysphere should not radically change
+  connecting-to-server experience

 
 

-* "tamarin": script to trigger rhesus during attempt to initiate
-  connection from client
+Host identity piece of monkeysphere could be used without buying into
+the user authentication component.

 
 

-client-side components
-----------------------
-* "marmoset": script to trigger rhesus during attempt to initiate
-  connection to server
-  - runs on connection to a certain host
-  - triggers update to known_hosts file then makes connection
-  - proxy-command | pre-hook script | wrapper script
-  - (ssh_config "LocalCommand" is only run *after* connection)

 
 USE CASE
 ========
 
 USE CASE
 ========


@@ -63,80 +27,55 @@ Backstory: http://www.conceptlabs.co.uk/alicebob.html
 
 Bob wants to sign on to the computer "mangabey.example.org" via
 monkeysphere framework.  He doesn't yet have access to the machine,
 
 Bob wants to sign on to the computer "mangabey.example.org" via
 monkeysphere framework.  He doesn't yet have access to the machine,

-but he knows Alice, who is the admin of magabey.  Alice and Bob, being
-the conscientious netizens that they are, have already published their
-personal gpg keys to the web of trust, and being good friends, have
-both signed each other's keys and marked each others keys with "full"
-trust.
-
-Alice uses howler to publish a gpg key for magabey with the special
-userid of "ssh://mangabey.example.org".  Alice signs mangabey's gpg
-key and publishes this signature as a certification.  Alice then
-creates a user "bob" on mangabey, and puts Bob's userid in the
-auth_user_ids file for user bob on magabey.  tamarin triggers on
-mangabey, which invokes rhesus.  rhesus takes all userids in bob's
-auth_user_ids file, looks on a keyserver to find the public keys for
-each user, converts the gpg public keys into ssh public keys if the
-key validity is acceptable, and finally inserts those keys into an
+but he knows Alice, who is the admin of mangabey.  Alice and Bob,
+being the conscientious netizens that they are, have already published
+their personal gpg keys to the web of trust, and being good friends,
+have both signed each other's keys and marked each others keys with
+"full" ownertrust.
+
+When Alice set up mangabey initially, she published an OpenPGP key for
+the machine with the special userid of "ssh://mangabey.example.org".
+She also signed mangabey's OpenPGP key and published this
+certification to commonly-used keyservers.  Alice also configured
+mangabey to treat her own key with full ownertrust, so that it knows
+how to identify connecting users.
+
+Now, Alice creates a user account "bob" on mangabey, and puts Bob's
+userid ("Bob <bob@example.org>") in the authorized_user_ids file for
+user bob on mangabey.  The monkeysphere automatically (via cron or
+inotify hook) takes each userid in bob's authorized_user_ids file, and
+looks on a keyserver to find all public keys associated with that user
+ID, with the goal of populating the authorized_keys file for
+bob@mangabey.
+
+In particular: for each key found, the server evaluates the calculated
+validity of the specified user ID based on the ownertrust rules it has
+configured ("trust alice's certifications fully", in this example).
+For each key for which the user ID in question is fully-valid, it
+extracts all DSA- or RSA-based primary or secondary keys marked with
+the authentication usage flag, and converts these OpenPGP public keys
+into ssh public keys.  These keys are automatically placed into the

 authorized_keys file for bob.
 
 authorized_keys file for bob.
 

-Bob now adds the "ssh://mangabey.example.org" userid to the
-auth_host_ids file in his account on his localhost.  Bob now goes to
-connect to bob@mangabey.example.org.  Bob's monkeysphere-enabled ssh
-client triggers marmoset, which invokes rhesus on Bob's computer.
-rhesus takes all server userids in his auth_host_ids file, looks on a
-keyserver to find the public key for each server (based on the
-server's URI), converts the gpg public keys into ssh public keys if
-the key validity is acceptable, and finally insert those keys into
-Bob's known_hosts file.
-
-On Bob's side, since mangabey's key had "full" validity (since it was
-signed by Alice whom he fully trusts), Bob's ssh client deems mangabey
+Bob now attempts to connect, by firing up a terminal and invoking:
+"ssh bob@mangabey.example.org".  Bob's monkeysphere-enabled ssh client
+notices that mangabey.example.org isn't already available in bob's
+known_hosts file, and fetches the host key for mangabey from the
+public keyservers, with the goal of populating Bob's local known_hosts
+file.
+
+In particular: the monkeysphere queries its configured keyservers to
+find all public keys with User ID ssh://mangabey.example.org.  For
+each public key found, it checks the relevant User ID's validity,
+converts any authentication-capable OpenPGP public keys into ssh
+public keys if the User ID validity is acceptable, and finally insert
+those keys into Bob's known_hosts file.
+
+On Bob's side, since mangabey's key had "full" validity (it was signed
+by Alice, whom he fully trusts), Bob's ssh client deems mangabey

 "known" and no further host key checking is required.
 
 "known" and no further host key checking is required.
 

-On mangabey's side, since Bob's key has "full" validity (since it had
-also been signed by Alice, mangabey's trusted administrator), Bob is
-authenticated and authorized to log into bob@mangabey.
-
-NOTES
-=====
-
-* Daniel and Elliot lie. <check>
-* We will use a distributed VCS, each developer will create their own
-  git repository and publish it publicly for others to pull from, mail
-  out 
-* public project page doesn't perhaps make sense yet
-* approximate goal - using the web of trust to authenticate ppl for
-  SSH 
-* outline of various components of monkeysphere
-* M: what does it mean to be in the monkeysphere?  not necessarily a
-  great coder.
-* J: interested in seeing project happen, not in actually doing it.
-  anybody can contribute as much as they want. 
-* J: if we put the structure in place to work on monkeysphere then we
-  don't have to do anything 
-* D: we are not creating 
-* understand gpg's keyring better, understanding tools better,
-  building scripts 
-* Some debian packages allow automated configuration of config files.
-
-* GENERAL GOAL - use openpgp web-of-trust to authenticate ppl for SSH
-* SPECIFIC GOAL - allow openssh to tie into pgp web-of-trust without
-  modifying either openpgp and openssh 
-* DESIGN GOALS - authentication, use the existing generic OpenSSH
-  client, the admin can make it default, although end-user should be
-  decide to use monkeysphere or not 
-* DESIGN GOAL - use of monkeysphere should not radically change
-  connecting-to-server experience 
-* GOAL - pick a monkey-related name for each component 
-
-Host identity piece of monkeysphere could be used without buying into
-the authorization component.
-
-Monkeysphere is authentication layer that allows the sysadmin to
-perform authorization on user identities instead of on keys, it
-additionally allows the sysadmin also to authenticate the server to
-the end-user.
+On mangabey's side, since Bob's key has "full" validity (it had been
+signed by Alice, mangabey's trusted administrator), Bob is
+authenticated and therefore authorized to log into his account.

 
 

-see doc/git-init for more detail on how to pull from the distributed
-repositories.