[PATCH v3] fast-(import|export): improve on commit signature output format

From

Christian Couder <christian.couder@gmail.com>

Date

Jun 18, 2025, 15:18 UTC

Message-ID

<20250618151821.528627-1-christian.couder@gmail.com>

In-Reply-To

<20250526103314.1542316-1-christian.couder@gmail.com>

However, this implementation has a number of limitations:

  - the output format was not properly described in the documentation,
  - the output format is not very informative as it doesn't even say
    if the signature is an OpenPGP, an SSH, or an X509 signature,
  - the implementation doesn't support having both one signature on
    the SHA-1 object and one on the SHA-256 object.

  - both one signature on the SHA-1 object and one on the SHA-256
    object can be exported and imported,
  - if there is more than one signature on the SHA-1 object or on
    the SHA-256 object, a warning is emitted,
  - the output format is "gpgsig <git-hash-algo> <signature-format>",
    where <git-hash-algo> is the Git object format as before, and
    <signature-format> is the signature type ("openpgp", "x509",
    "ssh" or "unknown",
  - the output is properly documented.

Helped-by: brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net>
Helped-by: Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Christian Couder <chriscool@tuxfamily.org>
---

Thanks to brian, Elijah and Junio who commented on the v1 and v2.

 Documentation/git-fast-export.adoc |  17 +++++
 Documentation/git-fast-import.adoc |  31 ++++++--
 builtin/fast-export.c              |  67 ++++++++++++++---
 builtin/fast-import.c              | 117 +++++++++++++++++++++++------
 gpg-interface.c                    |  12 +++
 gpg-interface.h                    |  12 +++
 t/t9350-fast-export.sh             |  60 ++++++++++++++-
 7 files changed, 274 insertions(+), 42 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-fast-export.adoc b/Documentation/git-fast-export.adoc
index 43bbb4f63c..64198f2186 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-fast-export.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-fast-export.adoc
@@ -50,6 +50,23 @@ resulting tag will have an invalid signature.
 	is the same as how earlier versions of this command without
 	this option behaved.
 +
+When exported, a signature starts with:
++
+gpgsig <git-hash-algo> <signature-format>
++
+where <git-hash-algo> is the Git object hash so either "sha1" or
+"sha256", and <signature-format> is the signature type, so "openpgp",
+"x509", "ssh" or "unknown".
++
+For example, an OpenPGP signature on a SHA-1 commit starts with
+`gpgsig sha1 openpgp`, while an SSH signature on a SHA-256 commit
+starts with `gpgsig sha256 ssh`.
++
+Currently for a given commit, at most one signature for the SHA-1
+object and one signature for the SHA-256 object are exported, each
+with their respective <git-hash-algo> identifier. A warning is
+emitted for each additional signature found.
++
 NOTE: This is highly experimental and the format of the data stream may
 change in the future without compatibility guarantees.
 
diff --git a/Documentation/git-fast-import.adoc b/Documentation/git-fast-import.adoc
index 250d866652..db5e5c8da5 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-fast-import.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-fast-import.adoc
@@ -445,7 +445,7 @@ one).
 	original-oid?
 	('author' (SP <name>)? SP LT <email> GT SP <when> LF)?
 	'committer' (SP <name>)? SP LT <email> GT SP <when> LF
-	('gpgsig' SP <alg> LF data)?
+	('gpgsig' SP <algo> SP <format> LF data)?
 	('encoding' SP <encoding> LF)?
 	data
 	('from' SP <commit-ish> LF)?
@@ -518,13 +518,32 @@ their syntax.
 ^^^^^^^^
 
 The optional `gpgsig` command is used to include a PGP/GPG signature
-that signs the commit data.
+or other cryptographic signature that signs the commit data.
 
-Here <alg> specifies which hashing algorithm is used for this
-signature, either `sha1` or `sha256`.
+....
+	'gpgsig' SP <git-hash-algo> SP <signature-format> LF
+	data
+....
+
+The `gpgsig` command takes two arguments:
+
+* `<git-hash-algo>` specifies which Git object format this signature
+  applies to, either `sha1` or `sha256`.
+
+* `<signature-format>` specifies the type of signature, such as
+  `openpgp`, `x509`, `ssh`, or `unknown`.
+
+A commit may have at most one signature for the SHA-1 object format
+(stored in the "gpgsig" header) and one for the SHA-256 object format
+(stored in the "gpgsig-sha256" header).
+
+See below for a detailed description of the `data` command which
+contains the raw signature data.
+
+Signatures are not yet checked in the current implementation though.
 
-NOTE: This is highly experimental and the format of the data stream may
-change in the future without compatibility guarantees.
+NOTE: This is highly experimental and the format of the `gpgsig`
+command may change in the future without compatibility guarantees.
 
 `encoding`
 ^^^^^^^^^^
diff --git a/builtin/fast-export.c b/builtin/fast-export.c
index fcf6b00d5f..332c036ee4 100644
--- a/builtin/fast-export.c
+++ b/builtin/fast-export.c
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 #include "quote.h"
 #include "remote.h"
 #include "blob.h"
+#include "gpg-interface.h"
 
 static const char *const fast_export_usage[] = {
 	N_("git fast-export [<rev-list-opts>]"),
@@ -652,6 +653,30 @@ static const char *find_commit_multiline_header(const char *msg,
 	return strbuf_detach(&val, NULL);
 }
 
+static void print_signature(const char *signature, const char *object_hash)
+{
+	if (!signature)
+		return;
+
+	printf("gpgsig %s %s\ndata %u\n%s",
+	       object_hash,
+	       get_signature_format(signature),
+	       (unsigned)strlen(signature),
+	       signature);
+}
+
+static void warn_on_extra_sig(const char **pos, struct commit *commit, int is_sha1)
+{
+	const char *header = is_sha1 ? "gpgsig" : "gpgsig-sha256";
+	const char *extra_sig = find_commit_multiline_header(*pos + 1, header, pos);
+	if (extra_sig) {
+		const char *hash = is_sha1 ? "SHA-1" : "SHA-256";
+		warning("more than one %s signature found on commit %s, using only the first one",
+			hash, oid_to_hex(&commit->object.oid));
+		free((char *)extra_sig);
+	}
+}
+
 static void handle_commit(struct commit *commit, struct rev_info *rev,
 			  struct string_list *paths_of_changed_objects)
 {
@@ -660,7 +685,8 @@ static void handle_commit(struct commit *commit, struct rev_info *rev,
 	const char *author, *author_end, *committer, *committer_end;
 	const char *encoding = NULL;
 	size_t encoding_len;
-	const char *signature_alg = NULL, *signature = NULL;
+	const char *sig_sha1 = NULL;
+	const char *sig_sha256 = NULL;
 	const char *message;
 	char *reencoded = NULL;
 	struct commit_list *p;
@@ -700,10 +726,28 @@ static void handle_commit(struct commit *commit, struct rev_info *rev,
 	}
 
 	if (*commit_buffer_cursor == '\n') {
-		if ((signature = find_commit_multiline_header(commit_buffer_cursor + 1, "gpgsig", &commit_buffer_cursor)))
-			signature_alg = "sha1";
-		else if ((signature = find_commit_multiline_header(commit_buffer_cursor + 1, "gpgsig-sha256", &commit_buffer_cursor)))
-			signature_alg = "sha256";
+		const char *sig_cursor = commit_buffer_cursor;
+		const char *after_sha1 = commit_buffer_cursor;
+		const char *after_sha256 = commit_buffer_cursor;
+
+		/*
+		 * Find the first signature for each hash algorithm.
+		 * The searches must start from the same position.
+		 */
+		sig_sha1 = find_commit_multiline_header(sig_cursor + 1,
+							"gpgsig",
+							&after_sha1);
+		sig_sha256 = find_commit_multiline_header(sig_cursor + 1,
+							  "gpgsig-sha256",
+							  &after_sha256);
+
+		/* Warn on any additional signatures, as they will be ignored. */
+		if (sig_sha1)
+			warn_on_extra_sig(&after_sha1, commit, 1);
+		if (sig_sha256)
+			warn_on_extra_sig(&after_sha256, commit, 0);
+
+		commit_buffer_cursor = (after_sha1 > after_sha256) ? after_sha1 : after_sha256;
 	}
 
 	message = strstr(commit_buffer_cursor, "\n\n");
@@ -769,7 +813,7 @@ static void handle_commit(struct commit *commit, struct rev_info *rev,
 	printf("%.*s\n%.*s\n",
 	       (int)(author_end - author), author,
 	       (int)(committer_end - committer), committer);
-	if (signature) {
+	if (sig_sha1 || sig_sha256) {
 		switch (signed_commit_mode) {
 		case SIGN_ABORT:
 			die("encountered signed commit %s; use "
@@ -780,19 +824,18 @@ static void handle_commit(struct commit *commit, struct rev_info *rev,
 				oid_to_hex(&commit->object.oid));
 			/* fallthru */
 		case SIGN_VERBATIM:
-			printf("gpgsig %s\ndata %u\n%s",
-			       signature_alg,
-			       (unsigned)strlen(signature),
-			       signature);
+			print_signature(sig_sha1, "sha1");
+			print_signature(sig_sha256, "sha256");
 			break;
 		case SIGN_WARN_STRIP:
-			warning("stripping signature from commit %s",
+			warning("stripping signature(s) from commit %s",
 				oid_to_hex(&commit->object.oid));
 			/* fallthru */
 		case SIGN_STRIP:
 			break;
 		}
-		free((char *)signature);
+		free((char *)sig_sha1);
+		free((char *)sig_sha256);
 	}
 	if (!reencoded && encoding)
 		printf("encoding %.*s\n", (int)encoding_len, encoding);
diff --git a/builtin/fast-import.c b/builtin/fast-import.c
index b2839c5f43..48ce8ebb77 100644
--- a/builtin/fast-import.c
+++ b/builtin/fast-import.c
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 #include "commit-reach.h"
 #include "khash.h"
 #include "date.h"
+#include "gpg-interface.h"
 
 #define PACK_ID_BITS 16
 #define MAX_PACK_ID ((1<<PACK_ID_BITS)-1)
@@ -2718,15 +2719,86 @@ static struct hash_list *parse_merge(unsigned int *count)
 	return list;
 }
 
+struct signature_data {
+	char *hash_algo;      /* "sha1" or "sha256" */
+	char *sig_format;     /* "openpgp", "x509", "ssh", "unknown" */
+	struct strbuf data;   /* The actual signature data */
+};
+
+static void parse_one_signature(struct signature_data *sig, const char *v)
+{
+	char *args = xstrdup(v); /* Will be freed when sig->hash_algo is freed */
+	char *space = strchr(args, ' ');
+
+	if (!space)
+		die("Expected gpgsig format: 'gpgsig <hash-algo> <signature-format>', "
+		    "got 'gpgsig %s'", args);
+	*space++ = '\0';
+
+	sig->hash_algo = args;
+	sig->sig_format = space;
+
+	/* Remove any trailing newline from format */
+	space = strchr(sig->sig_format, '\n');
+	if (space)
+		*space = '\0';
+
+	/* Validate hash algorithm */
+	if (strcmp(sig->hash_algo, "sha1") &&
+	    strcmp(sig->hash_algo, "sha256"))
+		die("Unknown git hash algorithm in gpgsig: '%s'", sig->hash_algo);
+
+	/* Validate signature format */
+	if (!valid_signature_format(sig->sig_format))
+		die("Invalid signature format in gpgsig: '%s'", sig->sig_format);
+	if (!strcmp(sig->sig_format, "unknown"))
+		warning("'unknown' signature format in gpgsig");
+
+	/* Read signature data */
+	read_next_command();
+	parse_data(&sig->data, 0, NULL);
+}
+
+static void add_gpgsig_to_commit(struct strbuf *commit_data,
+				 const char *header,
+				 struct signature_data *sig)
+{
+	struct string_list siglines = STRING_LIST_INIT_NODUP;
+
+	if (!sig->hash_algo)
+		return;
+
+	strbuf_addstr(commit_data, header);
+	string_list_split_in_place(&siglines, sig->data.buf, "\n", -1);
+	strbuf_add_separated_string_list(commit_data, "\n ", &siglines);
+	strbuf_addch(commit_data, '\n');
+	string_list_clear(&siglines, 1);
+	strbuf_release(&sig->data);
+	free(sig->hash_algo);
+}
+
+static void store_signature(struct signature_data *stored_sig,
+			    struct signature_data *new_sig,
+			    const char *hash_type)
+{
+	if (stored_sig->hash_algo) {
+		warning("Multiple %s signatures found, ignoring additional signature",
+			hash_type);
+		strbuf_release(&new_sig->data);
+		free(new_sig->hash_algo);
+	} else {
+		*stored_sig = *new_sig;
+	}
+}
+
 static void parse_new_commit(const char *arg)
 {
-	static struct strbuf sig = STRBUF_INIT;
 	static struct strbuf msg = STRBUF_INIT;
-	struct string_list siglines = STRING_LIST_INIT_NODUP;
+	struct signature_data sig_sha1 = { NULL, NULL, STRBUF_INIT };
+	struct signature_data sig_sha256 = { NULL, NULL, STRBUF_INIT };
 	struct branch *b;
 	char *author = NULL;
 	char *committer = NULL;
-	char *sig_alg = NULL;
 	char *encoding = NULL;
 	struct hash_list *merge_list = NULL;
 	unsigned int merge_count;
@@ -2750,13 +2822,23 @@ static void parse_new_commit(const char *arg)
 	}
 	if (!committer)
 		die("Expected committer but didn't get one");
-	if (skip_prefix(command_buf.buf, "gpgsig ", &v)) {
-		sig_alg = xstrdup(v);
-		read_next_command();
-		parse_data(&sig, 0, NULL);
+
+	/* Process signatures (up to 2: one "sha1" and one "sha256") */
+	while (skip_prefix(command_buf.buf, "gpgsig ", &v)) {
+		struct signature_data sig = { NULL, NULL, STRBUF_INIT };
+
+		parse_one_signature(&sig, v);
+
+		if (!strcmp(sig.hash_algo, "sha1"))
+			store_signature(&sig_sha1, &sig, "SHA-1");
+		else if (!strcmp(sig.hash_algo, "sha256"))
+			store_signature(&sig_sha256, &sig, "SHA-256");
+		else
+			BUG("parse_one_signature() returned unknown hash algo");
+
 		read_next_command();
-	} else
-		strbuf_setlen(&sig, 0);
+	}
+
 	if (skip_prefix(command_buf.buf, "encoding ", &v)) {
 		encoding = xstrdup(v);
 		read_next_command();
@@ -2830,23 +2912,14 @@ static void parse_new_commit(const char *arg)
 		strbuf_addf(&new_data,
 			"encoding %s\n",
 			encoding);
-	if (sig_alg) {
-		if (!strcmp(sig_alg, "sha1"))
-			strbuf_addstr(&new_data, "gpgsig ");
-		else if (!strcmp(sig_alg, "sha256"))
-			strbuf_addstr(&new_data, "gpgsig-sha256 ");
-		else
-			die("Expected gpgsig algorithm sha1 or sha256, got %s", sig_alg);
-		string_list_split_in_place(&siglines, sig.buf, "\n", -1);
-		strbuf_add_separated_string_list(&new_data, "\n ", &siglines);
-		strbuf_addch(&new_data, '\n');
-	}
+
+	add_gpgsig_to_commit(&new_data, "gpgsig ", &sig_sha1);
+	add_gpgsig_to_commit(&new_data, "gpgsig-sha256 ", &sig_sha256);
+
 	strbuf_addch(&new_data, '\n');
 	strbuf_addbuf(&new_data, &msg);
-	string_list_clear(&siglines, 1);
 	free(author);
 	free(committer);
-	free(sig_alg);
 	free(encoding);
 
 	if (!store_object(OBJ_COMMIT, &new_data, NULL, &b->oid, next_mark))
diff --git a/gpg-interface.c b/gpg-interface.c
index 0896458de5..6f2d87475f 100644
--- a/gpg-interface.c
+++ b/gpg-interface.c
@@ -144,6 +144,18 @@ static struct gpg_format *get_format_by_sig(const char *sig)
 	return NULL;
 }
 
+const char *get_signature_format(const char *buf)
+{
+	struct gpg_format *format = get_format_by_sig(buf);
+	return format ? format->name : "unknown";
+}
+
+int valid_signature_format(const char *format)
+{
+       return (!!get_format_by_name(format) ||
+	       !strcmp(format, "unknown"));
+}
+
 void signature_check_clear(struct signature_check *sigc)
 {
 	FREE_AND_NULL(sigc->payload);
diff --git a/gpg-interface.h b/gpg-interface.h
index e09f12e8d0..60ddf8bbfa 100644
--- a/gpg-interface.h
+++ b/gpg-interface.h
@@ -47,6 +47,18 @@ struct signature_check {
 
 void signature_check_clear(struct signature_check *sigc);
 
+/*
+ * Return the format of the signature (like "openpgp", "x509", "ssh"
+ * or "unknown").
+ */
+const char *get_signature_format(const char *buf);
+
+/*
+ * Is the signature format valid (like "openpgp", "x509", "ssh" or
+ * "unknown")
+ */
+int valid_signature_format(const char *format);
+
 /*
  * Look at a GPG signed tag object.  If such a signature exists, store it in
  * signature and the signed content in payload.  Return 1 if a signature was
diff --git a/t/t9350-fast-export.sh b/t/t9350-fast-export.sh
index 76619765fc..74dd23cb77 100755
--- a/t/t9350-fast-export.sh
+++ b/t/t9350-fast-export.sh
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ test_expect_success GPG 'signed-commits=abort' '
 test_expect_success GPG 'signed-commits=verbatim' '
 
 	git fast-export --signed-commits=verbatim --reencode=no commit-signing >output &&
-	grep "^gpgsig sha" output &&
+	test_grep -E "^gpgsig sha(1|256) openpgp" output &&
 	grep "encoding ISO-8859-1" output &&
 	(
 		cd new &&
@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ test_expect_success GPG 'signed-commits=verbatim' '
 test_expect_success GPG 'signed-commits=warn-verbatim' '
 
 	git fast-export --signed-commits=warn-verbatim --reencode=no commit-signing >output 2>err &&
-	grep "^gpgsig sha" output &&
+	test_grep -E "^gpgsig sha(1|256) openpgp" output &&
 	grep "encoding ISO-8859-1" output &&
 	test -s err &&
 	(
@@ -369,6 +369,62 @@ test_expect_success GPG 'signed-commits=warn-strip' '
 
 '
 
+test_expect_success GPGSM 'setup X.509 signed commit' '
+
+	git checkout -b x509-signing main &&
+	test_config gpg.format x509 &&
+	test_config user.signingkey $GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL &&
+	echo "X.509 content" >file &&
+	git add file &&
+	git commit -S -m "X.509 signed commit" &&
+	X509_COMMIT=$(git rev-parse HEAD) &&
+	git checkout main
+
+'
+
+test_expect_success GPGSM 'round-trip X.509 signed commit' '
+
+	git fast-export --signed-commits=verbatim x509-signing >output &&
+	grep "^gpgsig sha1 x509" output &&
+	(
+		cd new &&
+		git fast-import &&
+		git cat-file commit refs/heads/x509-signing >actual &&
+		grep "^gpgsig " actual &&
+		IMPORTED=$(git rev-parse refs/heads/x509-signing) &&
+		test $X509_COMMIT = $IMPORTED
+	) <output
+
+'
+
+test_expect_success GPGSSH 'setup SSH signed commit' '
+
+	git checkout -b ssh-signing main &&
+	test_config gpg.format ssh &&
+	test_config user.signingkey "${GPGSSH_KEY_PRIMARY}" &&
+	echo "SSH content" >file &&
+	git add file &&
+	git commit -S -m "SSH signed commit" &&
+	SSH_COMMIT=$(git rev-parse HEAD) &&
+	git checkout main
+
+'
+
+test_expect_success GPGSSH 'round-trip SSH signed commit' '
+
+	git fast-export --signed-commits=verbatim ssh-signing >output &&
+	grep "^gpgsig sha1 ssh" output &&
+	(
+		cd new &&
+		git fast-import &&
+		git cat-file commit refs/heads/ssh-signing >actual &&
+		grep "^gpgsig " actual &&
+		IMPORTED=$(git rev-parse refs/heads/ssh-signing) &&
+		test $SSH_COMMIT = $IMPORTED
+	) <output
+
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'setup submodule' '
 
 	test_config_global protocol.file.allow always &&

-- 
2.50.0.2.g875523421d