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10 <p><a name="__index__"></a></p>
15 <li><a href="#name">Name</a></li>
16 <li><a href="#synopsis">Synopsis</a></li>
17 <li><a href="#licensing">Licensing</a></li>
18 <li><a href="#description">Description</a></li>
19 <li><a href="#enhancements">Enhancements</a></li>
22 <li><a href="#fixed_bugs">Fixed Bugs</a></li>
23 <li><a href="#enhancements">Enhancements</a></li>
24 <li><a href="#todos">ToDoS</a></li>
27 <li><a href="#version_information">Version Information</a></li>
28 <li><a href="#installation">Installation</a></li>
29 <li><a href="#format_of_the_cvsacl_file">Format of the cvsacl file</a></li>
30 <li><a href="#program_logic">Program Logic</a></li>
33 <li><a href="#pseudocode">Pseudocode</a></li>
34 <li><a href="#sanity_check">Sanity Check</a></li>
43 <h1><a name="name">Name</a></h1>
44 <p>cvs_acls - Access Control List for CVS</p>
48 <h1><a name="synopsis">Synopsis</a></h1>
49 <p>In 'commitinfo':</p>
51 repository/path/to/restrict $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/cvs_acls [-d][-u $USER][-f <logfile>]</pre>
54 -d turns on debug information
55 -u passes the client-side userId to the cvs_acls script
56 -f specifies an alternate filename for the restrict_log file</pre>
59 {allow.*,deny.*} [|user,user,... [|repos,repos,... [|branch,branch,...]]]</pre>
62 allow|deny - allow: commits are allowed; deny: prohibited
63 user - userId to be allowed or restricted
64 repos - file or directory to be allowed or restricted
65 branch - branch to be allowed or restricted</pre>
66 <p>See below for examples.</p>
70 <h1><a name="licensing">Licensing</a></h1>
71 <p>cvs_acls - provides access control list functionality for CVS
75 Copyright (c) 2004 by Peter Connolly <peter.connolly@cnet.com>
76 All rights reserved.</pre>
77 <p>This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
78 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
79 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
80 (at your option) any later version.</p>
81 <p>This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
82 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
83 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
84 GNU General Public License for more details.</p>
85 <p>You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
86 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
87 Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA</p>
91 <h1><a name="description">Description</a></h1>
92 <p>This script--cvs_acls--is invoked once for each directory within a
93 ``cvs commit''. The set of files being committed for that directory as
94 well as the directory itself, are passed to this script. This script
95 checks its 'cvsacl' file to see if any of the files being committed
96 are on the 'cvsacl' file's restricted list. If any of the files are
97 restricted, then the cvs_acls script passes back an exit code of 1
98 which disallows the commits for that directory.</p>
99 <p>Messages are returned to the committer indicating the <a href="#item_file"><code>file(s)</code></a> that
100 he/she are not allowed to committ. Additionally, a site-specific
101 set of messages (e.g., contact information) can be included in these
103 <p>When a commit is prohibited, log messages are written to a restrict_log
104 file in $CVSROOT/CVSROOT. This default file can be redirected to
105 another destination.</p>
106 <p>The script is triggered from the 'commitinfo' file in $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/.</p>
110 <h1><a name="enhancements">Enhancements</a></h1>
111 <p>This section lists the bug fixes and enhancements added to cvs_acls
112 that make up the current cvs_acls.</p>
115 <h2><a name="fixed_bugs">Fixed Bugs</a></h2>
116 <p>This version attempts to get rid the following bugs from the
117 original version of cvs_acls:</p>
119 <li><strong><a name="item_files">Multiple entries on an 'cvsacl' line will be matched individually,
120 instead of requiring that all commit files *exactly* match all
121 'cvsacl' entries. Commiting a file not in the 'cvsacl' list would
122 allow *all* files (including a restricted file) to be committed.</a></strong><br />
124 [IMO, this basically made the original script unuseable for our
125 situation since any arbitrary combination of committed files could
126 avoid matching the 'cvsacl's entries.]
128 <li><strong><a name="item_handle_specific_filename_restrictions_2e_cvs_acls_">Handle specific filename restrictions. cvs_acls didn't restrict
129 individual files specified in 'cvsacl'.</a></strong><br />
131 <li><strong><a name="item_correctly_handle_multiple_2c_specific_filename_res">Correctly handle multiple, specific filename restrictions</a></strong><br />
133 <li><strong><a name="item_prohibit_mix_of_dirs_and_files_on_a_single__27cvsa">Prohibit mix of dirs and files on a single 'cvsacl' line
134 [To simplify the logic and because this would be normal usage.]</a></strong><br />
136 <li><strong><a name="item_correctly_handle_a_mixture_of_branch_restrictions_">Correctly handle a mixture of branch restrictions within one work
137 directory</a></strong><br />
139 <li><strong><a name="item__24cvsroot_existence_is_checked_too_late">$CVSROOT existence is checked too late</a></strong><br />
141 <li><strong><a name="item_option">Correctly handle the CVSROOT=:local:/... option (useful for
142 interactive testing)</a></strong><br />
144 <li><strong><a name="item_logic">Replacing shoddy ``$universal_off'' logic
145 (Thanks to Karl-Konig Konigsson for pointing this out.)</a></strong><br />
150 <h2><a name="enhancements">Enhancements</a></h2>
152 <li><strong><a name="item_checks_modules_in_the__27cvsacl_27_file_for_valid_">Checks modules in the 'cvsacl' file for valid files and directories</a></strong><br />
154 <li><strong><a name="item_accurately_report_restricted_entries_and_their_mat">Accurately report restricted entries and their matching patterns</a></strong><br />
156 <li><strong><a name="item_simplified_and_commented_overly_complex_perl_regex">Simplified and commented overly complex PERL REGEXPs for readability
157 and maintainability</a></strong><br />
159 <li><strong><a name="item_skip_the_rest_of_processing_if_a_mismatch_on_porti">Skip the rest of processing if a mismatch on portion of the 'cvsacl' line</a></strong><br />
161 <li><strong><a name="item_file">Get rid of opaque ``karma'' messages in favor of user-friendly messages
162 that describe which user, <code>file(s)</code> and <code>branch(es)</code> were disallowed.</a></strong><br />
164 <li><strong><a name="item_add_optional__27restrict_msg_27_file_for_additiona">Add optional 'restrict_msg' file for additional, site-specific
165 restriction messages.</a></strong><br />
167 <li><strong><a name="item_userid">Take a ``-u'' parameter for $USER from commit_prep so that the script
168 can do restrictions based on the client-side userId rather than the
169 server-side userId (usually 'cvs').</a></strong><br />
171 (See discussion below on ``Admin Setup'' for more on this point.)
173 <li><strong><a name="item_added_a_lot_more_debug_trace">Added a lot more debug trace</a></strong><br />
175 <li><strong><a name="item_tested_these_restrictions_with_concurrent_use_of_p">Tested these restrictions with concurrent use of pserver and SSH
176 access to model our transition from pserver to ext access.</a></strong><br />
178 <li><strong><a name="item_added_logging_of_restricted_commit_attempts_2e_res">Added logging of restricted commit attempts.
179 Restricted commits can be sent to a default file:
180 $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/restrictlog or to one passed to the script
181 via the -f command parameter.</a></strong><br />
186 <h2><a name="todos">ToDoS</a></h2>
188 <li><strong><a name="item_need_to_deal_with_pserver_2fssh_transition_with_co">Need to deal with pserver/SSH transition with conflicting umasks?</a></strong><br />
190 <li><strong><a name="item_use_a_cpan_module_to_handle_command_parameters_2e">Use a CPAN module to handle command parameters.</a></strong><br />
192 <li><strong><a name="item_use_a_cpan_module_to_clone_data_structures_2e">Use a CPAN module to clone data structures.</a></strong><br />
198 <h1><a name="version_information">Version Information</a></h1>
199 <p>This is not offered as a fix to the original 'cvs_acls' script since it
200 differs substantially in goals and methods from the original and there
201 are probably a significant number of people out there that still require
202 the original version's functionality.</p>
203 <p>The 'cvsacl' file flags of 'allow' and 'deny' were intentionally
204 changed to 'allow' and 'deny' because there are enough differences
205 between the original script's behavior and this one's that we wanted to
206 make sure that users will rethink their 'cvsacl' file formats before
207 plugging in this newer script.</p>
208 <p>Please note that there has been very limited cross-platform testing of
209 this script!!! (We did not have the time or resources to do exhaustive
210 cross-platform testing.)</p>
211 <p>It was developed and tested under Red Hat Linux 9.0 using PERL 5.8.0.
212 Additionally, it was built and tested under Red Hat Linux 7.3 using
214 <p>$Id: cvs_acls.html,v 1.2 2005/07/20 10:38:40 dprice Exp $</p>
215 <p>This version is based on the 1.11.13 version of cvs_acls
216 <a href="mailto:peter.connolly@cnet.com">peter.connolly@cnet.com</a> (Peter Connolly)</p>
218 Access control lists for CVS. dgg@ksr.com (David G. Grubbs)
219 Branch specific controls added by voisine@bytemobile.com (Aaron Voisine)</pre>
223 <h1><a name="installation">Installation</a></h1>
224 <p>To use this program, do the following four things:</p>
225 <p>0. Install PERL, version 5.6.1 or 5.8.0.</p>
226 <p>1. Admin Setup:</p>
228 There are two choices here.</pre>
230 a) The first option is to use the $ENV{"USER"}, server-side userId
231 (from the third column of your pserver 'passwd' file) as the basis for
232 your restrictions. In this case, you will (at a minimum) want to set
233 up a new "cvsadmin" userId and group on the pserver machine.
234 CVS administrators will then set up their 'passwd' file entries to
235 run either as "cvs" (for regular users) or as "cvsadmin" (for power
236 users). Correspondingly, your 'cvsacl' file will only list 'cvs'
237 and 'cvsadmin' as the userIds in the second column.</pre>
239 Commentary: A potential weakness of this is that the xinetd
240 cvspserver process will need to run as 'root' in order to switch
241 between the 'cvs' and the 'cvsadmin' userIds. Some sysadmins don't
242 like situations like this and may want to chroot the process.
243 Talk to them about this point...</pre>
245 b) The second option is to use the client-side userId as the basis for
246 your restrictions. In this case, all the xinetd cvspserver processes
247 can run as userId 'cvs' and no 'root' userId is required. If you have
248 a 'passwd' file that lists 'cvs' as the effective run-time userId for
249 all your users, then no changes to this file are needed. Your 'cvsacl'
250 file will use the individual, client-side userIds in its 2nd column.</pre>
252 As long as the userIds in pserver's 'passwd' file match those userIds
253 that your Linux server know about, this approach is ideal if you are
254 planning to move from pserver to SSH access at some later point in time.
255 Just by switching the CVSROOT var from CVSROOT=:pserver:<userId>... to
256 CVSROOT=:ext:<userId>..., users can switch over to SSH access without
257 any other administrative changes. When all users have switched over to
258 SSH, the inherently insecure xinetd cvspserver process can be disabled.
259 [<a href="http://ximbiot.com/cvs/manual/cvs-1.11.17/cvs_2.html#SEC32">http://ximbiot.com/cvs/manual/cvs-1.11.17/cvs_2.html#SEC32</a>]</pre>
261 :TODO: The only potential glitch with the SSH approach is the possibility
262 that each user can have differing umasks that might interfere with one
263 another, especially during a transition from pserver to SSH. As noted
264 in the ToDo section, this needs a good strategy and set of tests for that
266 <p>2. Put two lines, as the *only* non-comment lines, in your commitinfo file:</p>
268 ALL $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/commit_prep
269 ALL $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/cvs_acls [-d][-u $USER ][-f <logfilename>]</pre>
271 where "-d" turns on debug trace
272 "-u $USER" passes the client-side userId to cvs_acls
273 "-f <logfilename"> overrides the default filename used to log
274 restricted commit attempts.</pre>
276 (These are handled in the processArgs() subroutine.)</pre>
277 <p>If you are using client-side userIds to restrict access to your
278 repository, make sure that they are in this order since the commit_prep
279 script is required in order to pass the $USER parameter.</p>
280 <p>A final note about the repository matching pattern. The example above
281 uses ``ALL'' but note that this means that the cvs_acls script will run
282 for each and every commit in your repository. Obviously, in a large
283 repository this adds up to a lot of overhead that may not be necesary.
284 A better strategy is to use a repository pattern that is more specific
285 to the areas that you wish to secure.</p>
286 <p>3. Install this file as $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/cvs_acls and make it executable.</p>
287 <p>4. Create a file named CVSROOT/cvsacl and optionally add it to
288 CVSROOT/checkoutlist and check it in. See the CVS manual's
289 administrative files section about checkoutlist. Typically:</p>
291 $ cvs checkout CVSROOT
293 [ create the cvsacl file, include 'commitinfo' line ]
294 [ add cvsacl to checkoutlist ]
296 $ cvs commit -m 'Added cvsacl for use with cvs_acls.' cvsacl checkoutlist</pre>
297 <p>Note: The format of the 'cvsacl' file is described in detail immediately
298 below but here is an important set up point:</p>
300 Make sure to include a line like the following:</pre>
302 deny||CVSROOT/commitinfo CVSROOT/cvsacl
303 allow|cvsadmin|CVSROOT/commitinfo CVSROOT/cvsacl</pre>
305 that restricts access to commitinfo and cvsacl since this would be one of
306 the easiest "end runs" around this ACL approach. ('commitinfo' has the
307 line that executes the cvs_acls script and, of course, all the
308 restrictions are in 'cvsacl'.)</pre>
309 <p>5. (Optional) Create a 'restrict_msg' file in the $CVSROOT/CVSROOT directory.
310 Whenever there is a restricted file or dir message, cvs_acls will look
311 for this file and, if it exists, print its contents as part of the
312 commit-denial message. This gives you a chance to print any site-specific
313 information (e.g., who to call, what procedures to look up,...) whenever
314 a commit is denied.</p>
318 <h1><a name="format_of_the_cvsacl_file">Format of the cvsacl file</a></h1>
319 <p>The 'cvsacl' file determines whether you may commit files. It contains lines
320 read from top to bottom, keeping track of whether a given user, repository
321 and branch combination is ``allowed'' or ``denied.'' The script will assume
322 ``allowed'' on all repository paths until 'allow' and 'deny' rules change
324 <p>The normal pattern is to specify an 'deny' rule to turn off
325 access to ALL users, then follow it with a matching 'allow' rule that will
326 turn on access for a select set of users. In the case of multiple rules for
327 the same user, repository and branch, the last one takes precedence.</p>
328 <p>Blank lines and lines with only comments are ignored. Any other lines not
329 beginning with ``allow'' or ``deny'' are logged to the restrict_log file.</p>
330 <p>Lines beginning with ``allow'' or ``deny'' are assumed to be '|'-separated
331 triples: (All spaces and tabs are ignored in a line.)</p>
333 {allow.*,deny.*} [|user,user,... [|repos,repos,... [|branch,branch,...]]]</pre>
335 1. String starting with "allow" or "deny".
336 2. Optional, comma-separated list of usernames.
337 3. Optional, comma-separated list of repository pathnames.
338 These are pathnames relative to $CVSROOT. They can be directories or
339 filenames. A directory name allows or restricts access to all files and
340 directories below it. One line can have either directories or filenames
342 4. Optional, comma-separated list of branch tags.
343 If not specified, all branches are assumed. Use HEAD to reference the
345 <p>Example: (Note: No in-line comments.)</p>
347 # ----- Make whole repository unavailable.
350 # ----- Except for user "dgg".
353 # ----- Except when "fred" or "john" commit to the
354 # module whose repository is "bin/ls"
355 allow|fred, john|bin/ls</pre>
357 # ----- Except when "ed" commits to the "stable"
358 # branch of the "bin/ls" repository
359 allow|ed|/bin/ls|stable</pre>
363 <h1><a name="program_logic">Program Logic</a></h1>
364 <p>CVS passes to @ARGV an absolute directory pathname (the repository
365 appended to your $CVSROOT variable), followed by a list of filenames
366 within that directory that are to be committed.</p>
367 <p>The script walks through the 'cvsacl' file looking for matches on
368 the username, repository and branch.</p>
369 <p>A username match is simply the user's name appearing in the second
370 column of the cvsacl line in a space-or-comma separate list. If
371 blank, then any user will match.</p>
372 <p>A repository match:</p>
374 <li><strong><a name="item_each_entry_in_the_modules_section_of_the_current__">Each entry in the modules section of the current 'cvsacl' line is
375 examined to see if it is a dir or a file. The line must have
376 either files or dirs, but not both. (To simplify the logic.)</a></strong><br />
378 <li><strong><a name="item_if_neither_2c_then_assume_the__27cvsacl_27_file_wa">If neither, then assume the 'cvsacl' file was set up in error and
379 skip that 'allow' line.</a></strong><br />
381 <li><strong><a name="item_if_a_dir_2c_then_each_dir_pattern_is_matched_separ">If a dir, then each dir pattern is matched separately against the
382 beginning of each of the committed files in @ARGV.</a></strong><br />
384 <li><strong><a name="item_if_a_file_2c_then_each_file_pattern_is_matched_exa">If a file, then each file pattern is matched exactly against each
385 of the files to be committed in @ARGV.</a></strong><br />
387 <li><strong><a name="item_repository_and_branch_must_both_match_together_2e_">Repository and branch must BOTH match together. This is to cover
388 the use case where a user has multiple branches checked out in
389 a single work directory. Commit files can be from different
390 branches.</a></strong><br />
392 A branch match is either:
394 <li><strong><a name="item_when_no_branches_are_listed_in_the_fourth_column_2">When no branches are listed in the fourth column. (``Match any.'')</a></strong><br />
396 <li><strong><a name="item_all_elements_from_the_fourth_column_are_matched_ag">All elements from the fourth column are matched against each of
397 the tag names for $ARGV[1..$#ARGV] found in the %branches file.</a></strong><br />
400 <li><strong><a name="item__27allow_27_match_remove_that_match_from_the_tally">'allow' match remove that match from the tally map.</a></strong><br />
402 <li><strong><a name="item_restricted">Restricted ('deny') matches are saved in the %repository_matches
403 table.</a></strong><br />
405 <li><strong><a name="item_if_there_is_a_match_on_user_2c_repository_and_bran">If there is a match on user, repository and branch:</a></strong><br />
408 If repository, branch and user match
410 add %repository_matches entries to %restricted_entries
412 remove %repository_matches entries from %restricted_entries</pre>
413 <li><strong><a name="item_at_the_end_of_all_the__27cvsacl_27_line_checks_2c_">At the end of all the 'cvsacl' line checks, check to see if there
414 are any entries in the %restricted_entries. If so, then deny the
415 commit.</a></strong><br />
420 <h2><a name="pseudocode">Pseudocode</a></h2>
422 read CVS/Entries file and create branch{file}->{branch} hash table
423 + for each 'allow' and 'deny' line in the 'cvsacl' file:
425 | - Yes: set $user_match = 1;
426 | repository and branch match?
427 | - Yes: add to %repository_matches;
428 | did user, repository match?
429 | - Yes: if 'deny' then
430 | add %repository_matches -> %restricted_entries
432 | remove %repository_matches <- %restricted_entries
434 any saved restrictions?
436 set exit code allowing commits and exit
437 yes: report restrictions,
438 set exit code prohibiting commits and exit</pre>
441 <h2><a name="sanity_check">Sanity Check</a></h2>
443 1) file allow trumps a dir deny
445 allow||java/lib/README
446 2) dir allow can undo a file deny
447 deny||java/lib/README
449 3) file deny trumps a dir allow
451 deny||java/lib/README
452 4) dir deny trumps a file allow
453 allow||java/lib/README
455 ... so last match always takes precedence</pre>