linux-kernel - Re: RFC: sign the modules at install time

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Message-ID: <20121018171628.GD23278@kroah.com>
Date:	Thu, 18 Oct 2012 10:16:28 -0700
From:	Greg KH <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>
To:	Rusty Russell <rusty@...tcorp.com.au>
Cc:	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>,
	David Howells <dhowells@...hat.com>,
	David Miller <davem@...emloft.net>,
	Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	jwboyer@...hat.com, pjones@...hat.com
Subject: Re: RFC: sign the modules at install time

On Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 03:04:26PM +1030, Rusty Russell wrote:
> Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org> writes:
> > On Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 5:54 PM, Greg KH <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> One of the main sane use-cases for module signing is:
> >>>
> >>>  - CONFIG_CHECK_SIGNATURE=y
> >>>  - randomly generated one-time key
> >>>  - "make modules_install; make install"
> >>>  - "make clean" to get rid of the keys.
> >>>  - reboot.
> >>
> >> I want that too, but right now 'make clean' leaves the keys around,
> >> which seems a bit dangerous to me.
> >
> > Oh, yes, we should make sure the key file gets cleaned up at "make clean".
> 
> I left it at distclean, figuring the temporary key is a bit like the
> .config.  But it's trivial to change if people think that's unnatural.

.config is user-generated, while the key is build-generated.  I assumed
that 'make clean' would clean up anything the build created, but as
Linus points out, the docs say that we will have enough stuff around to
build a module, so I guess it makes sense in that case.

Oh, along those lines, should the keys really end up in the root of the
kernel source tree?  keys/ perhaps?  But this is really just
bikesheding, that's up to you and David, it's not my code to maintain :)

thanks,

greg k-h
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