JAJackC·May 10, 2022
The question in that thread, and this later thread,[1] is how to know which keys are valid to sign a package.
For example: I go to release a new version and I've lost my private key, so I roll a new one -- this will happen often across npm's 1.3 million packages. Do I then ... log in with my email and update the private key on my account and go about my business? What process does npm use to make sure my new key is valid? Can a person with control over my email address fake that process? How are key rotations communicated to people updating packages -- as an almost-always-false-positive red flag, or not at all, or some useful amount in between? If you don't get this part of the design right -- and no one suggests how to in those threads -- then you're just doing hashes with worse UX. And the more you look at it, the more you might start t
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o think (as the npm devs seem to) that npm account security is the linchpin of the whole thing rather than signing.
It's not just npm; that thread includes a PyPI core dev chipping in with the same view: "Lots of language repositories have implemented (a) [signing] and punted on (b) and (c) [some way to know which keys to trust] and essentially gained nothing. It's my belief that if npm does (a) without a solution for (b) and (c) they'll have gained nothing as well." It also has a link from a Homebrew issue thread deciding not to do signatures for the same reason -- they'd convey a false expectation without a solution for key verification.[2]
[1] https://github.com/node-forward/discussions/issues/29
[2] https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/pull/4120#issuecomment-4068...