gemato 17.0

Gentoo Manifest Tool -- a utility to verify and update Manifest files

Author:

Michał Górny

License:

2-clause BSD license

Introduction

gemato provides a reference implementation of the full-tree Manifest checks as specified in GLEP 74 [1]. Originally focused on verifying the integrity and authenticity of the Gentoo ebuild repository, the tool can be used as a generic checksumming tool for any directory trees.

Usage

Verification

The basic purpose of gemato is to verify a directory tree against Manifest files. In order to do that, run the gemato verify tool against the requested directory:

gemato verify /var/db/repos/gentoo

The tool will automatically locate the top-level Manifest (if any) and check the specified directory recursively. If a subdirectory of the Manifest tree is specified, only the specified leaf is checked.

Creating new Manifest tree

Creating a new Manifest tree can be accomplished using the gemato create command against the top directory of the new Manifest tree:

gemato create -p ebuild /var/db/repos/gentoo

Note that for the create command you always need to specify either a profile (via -p) or at least a hash set (via -H).

Updating existing Manifests

The gemato update command is provided to update an existing Manifest tree:

gemato update -p ebuild /var/db/repos/gentoo

Alike create, update also requires specifying a profile (-p) or a hash set (-H). The command locates the appropriate top-level Manifest and updates the specified directory recursively. If a subdirectory of the Manifest tree is specified, the entries for the specified leaf and respective Manifest files are updated.

Utility commands

gemato provides a few other commands that could help debugging its behavior. Those are:

gemato hash -H <hashes> [<path>...]

Print hashes of the specified files in Manifest-like format. Used to verify that the hash backend works correctly.

gemato openpgp-verify [-K <key>] [<path>...]

Check OpenPGP signatures embedded in the specified files. Detached signatures are not supported. Used to verify that the OpenPGP backend works correctly.

Requirements

gemato is written in Python and compatible with implementations of Python 3.6+. gemato is currently tested against CPython 3.6 through 3.7 and PyPy3. gemato core depends only on standard Python library modules.

Additionally, OpenPGP requires system install of GnuPG 2.2+ and requests Python module. Tests require pytest, and responses for mocking.

References and footnotes

[1]

GLEP 74: Full-tree verification using Manifest files (https://www.gentoo.org/glep/glep-0074.html)