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notaryproject
notary
Go2015–2022
notaryproject / notary · Archived

notary

Notary is a project that allows anyone to have trust over arbitrary collections of data

16Distinct people
23Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
3.3KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Notary is a project that allows anyone to have trust over arbitrary collections of data

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 5:04:57 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year23 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2015-06-22 17:39:55 UTC to 2022-03-30 20:35:13 UTC.

02462015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 5 mentions; 1 submissions, 4 comments20152016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 7 mentions; 1 submissions, 6 comments2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments20182019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 0 submissions, 3 comments2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 4 mentions; 1 submissions, 3 comments2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2022

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20152015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC514
20162016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC716
20172017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC303
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC413
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101

What Hacker News says

23 sources
I'm not touching anything Docker anymore. Here's the scenario: you're the unfortunate soul who received the first M1 as a new employee, and nothing Docker-related works. Cue multi-arch builds; what a rotten mess. I spent more than a week figuring out the careful orchestration that any build involving `docker manifest` needs. If you aren't within the very fine line that buildx assumes, good luck pal. How long has `docker manifest` been "experimental?" It's abandonware. Then I decided it would be smart to point out that we don't sign our images, and so I had to figure out how to combine the `docker manifest` mess with `docker trust`, another piece of abandonware. Eventually I figured out that the way to do it was with notary[1], another (poorly documented) piece of abandonware. The new shiny thing is notation[2], which does exactly the same
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thing, but is nowhere near complete. At least Google clearly signals that they are killing something, Docker just lets projects go quiet. I'm now looking at replacing everything I've done for the past 4 months with Podman, Buildah, and Cosign. How long before this project lands up like the rest of them? Coincidentally, we were talking about decoupling our CI from proprietary CI, seeing this was a rollercoaster of emotions. [1]: https://github.com/notaryproject/notary [2]: https://github.com/notaryproject/notation
In Dagger: a new way to build CI/CD pipelines
Notary is a signing scheme from the publisher. It is an improvement over GPG signing + a better scheme for signaling to clients the next version to update. Asset Transparency doesn't require the publisher to be involved at all and can work on any URL on the internet that is publicly accessible. It also complementary to signing schemes. Here is the Asset Transparency CLI fetching and verifying the contents of a notary release for example: tl get https://github.com/theupdateframework/notary/releases/download/v0.6.1/notary-Linux… Or if you are curious hit the service’s lookup endpoint directly: curl http://beta-asset.transparencylog.net/lookup/github.com/theupdateframework/notary/…
In Software supply chain security
While this article does do a good job of illuminating the potential challenges, it's a bit frustrating that there's such scant discussion of solutions. IMO, this problem has been solved pretty comprehensively by the TUF framework[1], which has a number of solid implementations[2][3]. Many of these implementations even have reliable third-party reviews, so should be pretty trustworthy. [1]: https://theupdateframework.github.io/ [2]: https://github.com/flynn/go-tuf [3]: https://github.com/theupdateframework/notary
In Top three requirements for OTA software updates for IoT
I build my images for private & professional projects in Gitlab CI and I use the provided free registry. The biggest downside to my set up is that I can't say I have enterprise-level security. Getting it nailed down properly requires the use of tools like TUF/Notary[0] & signed-image aware container repositories like Harbor[1] and a deployment gate mechanism like Portieris[2]. That's a lot of complexity to tack on. Just a note -- Docker already runs containerd underneath via a shim[3] If you're relying on docker-specific features then by all means it makes sense to continue using docker but if you're just looking for a thing to quietly run your containers (or power your kubernetes cluster), containerd should probably be that thing. It's all of the building and none of the extra stuff that docker the company is trying to do/become. [0]: ht
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In Making containers safer
I didn't know ipfs cluster existed -- thanks for the reference. I was more thinking of a harbor[0] like cobbling of these technologies together -- harbor combines a bunch of F/OSS tools into one powerful registry solution. Here are a few: - Distribution for storing images - Notary for signing - Clair for static analysis Based on this I was thinking of was basically Distribution + ipfs cluster + a small management daemon. The daemon is only there to tie the other pieces together and present a unified interface but the bulk of the work can be done with the other pieces. [0]: https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/wiki/Architecture-Overvie... [1]: https://github.com/docker/distribution [2]: https://github.com/theupdateframework/notary [3]: https://github.com/coreos/clair
In Kraken, an Open Source Peer-to-Peer Docker Registry
Yeah that's definitely true -- throwing your server away is no good if the machine image/setup flow you're using is insecure. Nix/Guix + the long list of distros working on it are all going in the right direction to fix this problem -- but I find it hard to believe that instead of just waiting for Debian reproducible builds (or some other vendor provided option) people will all switch to Nix/Guix. Above the VM layer (@ the sandboxed process i.e. container layer), TUF[0] + Notary[1] + compliant image registries + attestation tools are helping to solve this problem which is nice. [0]: https://theupdateframework.github.io/ [1]: https://github.com/theupdateframework/notary
In Guix: An advanced operating system
> I think Sourcegraph is trying here but that still does not seem to use some kind of accurate and structured information like you have in the code, it still seems not use build rules Sourcegraph does use language servers (same as your editor would use) to get precise definitions and references. For example ("find references" on some open-source code): Go: https://sourcegraph.com/github.com/theupdateframework/notary... TypeScript: https://sourcegraph.com/github.com/ReactiveX/rxjs/-/blob/src... It understands many build tools, but not all. Go, JavaScript, TypeScript, Java, Python, and PHP support is all pretty solid. If you use the most common build tools for your language, it usually works well. It degrades un-gracefully if you use custom build tools or scripts, unfortunately, but we're working on making it support more build tools and cu
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stomization. Sourcegraph development is open source; if you notice any problems, let us know in the issue tracker at https://github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph.
In Cloud Source Repositories
I believe most of your questions have a (mostly) positive answer. Admittedly the Docker project moves fast, so I've tried to provide a link or two for each: > Are these signed with some sort of crypto and known-good keys, similar to package signing keys attached to a package repo, or are we taking Docker's word for it? The official images are all signed with Notary[0] (released <2 years ago). The "Content Trust" feature makes use of TLS plus a number of keys[1]. It can be enabled in required environments to prevent the pulling of non-signed images (`export DOCKER_CONTENT_TRUST=1`). > I had to go 3 levels up from the link on the Docker Hub page to get to this one because most of the images are FROM:something. There is a helpful Chrome extension, OctoLinker[2], that makes the `FROM parent` clickable (among other non-Docker things). I'm sure
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there are similar extensions, but this is the one I currently use. > a) still derived from some other upstream Dockerfile (must this file also be validated by Docker to qualify as an "official repo"?) The `FROM` line in the Dockerfile would likely be the first thing to undergo scrutiny, for obvious reasons. Also, all the layers go through security scanning[3], some issues can be fixed[4] and others are tracked upstream (e.g. by Debian in the case of the Ruby image you linked[5]). > you end up with an image that is very bloated due to the way Docker's caching layer functions You can now use `docker build --squash`[6] to combine multiple image layers while still benefiting from layer caching during builds. Also, the final image won't contain files that are added in previous layers and removed in later ones. (And with multi-stage builds recently merged, soon multiple inheritance will be easier.) > Is this "transparency" only the case on "official" images? As far as I can see Docker Hub just stores the pushed binary blob and not the Dockerfile required to build it I would say groups or sole developers that want others to use their images will usually provide documentation and links to the Dockerfiles. Of course, this isn't always possible or desired (e.g. see closed-source projects like Windows Server Core[7], or the countless people using Docker Hub as a free image host.) [0]: https://github.com/docker/notary [1]: https://docs.docker.com/engine/security/trust/trust_key_mng/ [2]: https://octolinker.github.io/ [3]: https://docs.docker.com/docker-hub/official_repos/#how-do-i-... [4]: https://github.com/docker-library/official-images/pulls?utf8... [5]: https://github.com/docker-library/ruby/issues/117 [6]: https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/build/#... [7]: https://hub.docker.com/r/microsoft/windowsservercore/
In Connecting Kubernetes services with linkerd
Docker has taken the direction of a loose collection of tools tied together by an integrated interface. So you have the choice of using the platform as a whole, or standing up your choice of individual components on their own, without any dependency on Docker. Based on your comment, you're probably not the target audience for the platform. I recommend checking out some of the components to see if they meet your criteria of simplicity. A few examples: https://runc.io https://containerd.tools https://github.com/docker/swarmkit https://github.com/docker/notary https://github.com/docker/infrakit https://github.com/docker/hyperkit We are continuing the work of carving out more and more usable components from the platform.
In Jess Frazelle
Docker founder here. > What is the motivation and benefit for running containers without docker? I regularly hear from people who want to run containers without Docker. There are several motivations, all of which are perfectly valid: 1. Learning. It's fun to build things from scratch to understand how they work under the hood. 2. Bad experience. Early versions of Docker were quite buggy, and we initially struggled to keep up with the colossal growth in usage and feature requests. As a result, many of the people who tried Docker in production too early were badly disappointed. Some of them decided Docker wasn't for them, and started looking for alternatives. 3. Extremely custom use case. If your deployment is larger, or more complex, or more specialized than 99.99% of deployments out there, then "mainstream" platforms like Docker might not
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be the right fit for you. Of course we try to make Docker as customizable as possible, to support more a wider spectrum of use cases with plugins. But realistically, no single platform can cover all use cases, and I don't think any platform ever will. Docker is no exception. 4. Philosophy disagreement. Different people have different opinions on how applications should be developed and deployed. Docker tries very hard to be agnostic - to accommodate as many opinions as possible. But we can't please everybody. If Docker does not fit your philosophy of development and deployment, then the natural response is to look for an alternative. 5. Competition. Many Docker competitors started out as extensions or modifications of Docker, and over time are looking to reduce their dependency on Docker. I'm probably missing other reasons, but these are the ones I've been most exposed to. These are all reasonable reasons to not want to use Docker. Our approach is that, if you want to run containers without Docker, we should make it as easy as possible. In practice that means spinning out as many of the underlying components as possible (what we call the "plumbing") so that you can assemble it yourself without being stuck using the entire Docker platform. For example: - containerd [https://github.com/docker/containerd] is our low-level container runtime. - runc [https://runc.io] is a standardized "container executor", which we donated to the Linux Foundation as the reference foundation for the OCI spec. - libnetwork [https://github.com/docker/libnetwork] is the low-level networking implementation (including overlay networking which is a very useful primitive for container clustering) - swarmkit [https://github.com/docker/swarmkit] is a clustering/orchestration implementation - notary [https://github.com/docker/notary] is a cryptographic content verification tool, which you can use to sign and verify container images. - infrakit [https://github.com/docker/infrakit] automates the provisioning of infrastructure capable of running containers. Our opinion is that, even if you don't use Docker, by using these components for your own purposes, you are indirectly contributing to making Docker better. Splitting out these components has also forced us to refactor Docker into a more modular, more robust design. We even send Docker employees to explain how to run containers without Docker :) For example here's a talk we gave at Linuxcon: https://linuxconcontainerconeurope2016.sched.org/event/7oHM/...
In Running containers without Docker
Docker founder here. > "Secure by default" is a great philosophy to have. I hope Docker continues to push into this direction. Thank you. We will absolutely keep pushing. > However, where is image signing? Docker supports image signing out-of-the-box. It's based on TUF which is the state if the art in secure content distribution. Along the way we open-sourced our underlying TUF implementation so thaf others can reuse it: https://github.com/docker/notary > Where is pulling images by their hash instead of mutable tags? That's also available out of the box: "docker pull NAME@DIGEST" > Where is restricting what images run according to their hashes? That's not available out of the box, but a popular way to implement it is to funnel images through a trusted private registry, only allow pulls from that registry, and then controlling what you pus
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h to it. Another possibility is to use the new auth plugin system, although I haven't tried. > Where is Docker not running a daemon as root? Docker runs unprivileged by default, but only on relatively recent kernels with user namespace support (it drops itself to "fake root" so it can still create containers without actually having uid0). On older systems (or if you don't trust user namespaces) I agree we could break up some parts of the daemon (for example push/pull) to drop privileges further. That requires serious refactoring which we have been working on gradually for some time. > How about Docker doing more hardening releases and fewer feature releases? We follow the linux methodology: every release includes many hardening improvements, as well as whatever features have been deemed stable enough to merge. We don't control what pull requests the community sends, but we work hard to maintain a high quality bar and encourage quality-oriented contributions. The Docker core engineering team invests more time on hardening than features. > There's a lot of low hanging, security related fruit which haven't been picked. Why not? I'm sure there are :) Security is a process, we will never be done. The important thing for us is to take it seriously, invest appropriately (Docker core team employs 6 full time security engineers and funds various third-party security efforts), and make sure we are perpetually improving. On top of that, Docker is known for making powerful technology more accessible to more people. We want to use that "superpower" to make security more usable by non-experts. We think that contributes to making everyone more secure. > Process isolation is a fantastic. There just really needs to be more, in my opinion. Docker security is about much, much more than process isolation. Thanks for the feedback. We hope to see you on the github repo, we value bug reports :)
In The Docker security philosophy is “secure by default”
We've done a ton of work on image signing. Look in to Docker Content Trust (https://docs.docker.com/engine/security/trust/content_trust/) and Notary (https://github.com/docker/notary). Our signing system is an implementation of The Update Framework (https://theupdateframework.github.io/), which many folks feel pushes the security of signing systems past any other currently deployed systems out there. The coolest bit here is to be able to do threshold signing. Essentially k-of-n signing for containers and verification gates that only allow containers with enough signatures in order to deploy. For some more background check out the blogpost here: https://blog.docker.com/2016/08/securing-enterprise-software... Disclaimer: I manage security at Docker.
In The Docker security philosophy is “secure by default”

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