Proposed: Distribute trusted clients with notary

Context and Problem Statement

We use itch.io distribute our software clients.

  1. Security concerns with trust. We do not control hosting.
  2. Want ability to mirror package sources.
  3. Research use to distribute avatars and worlds
  4. Want something off the shelf

Describe the proposed option and how it helps to overcome the problem or limitation

Use the notary system so we can establish trust.

Describe how your proposal will work, with code, pseudo-code, mock-ups, and/or diagrams

We distribute the notary updater and make it fetch the launcher and V-Sekai.

We provide a notary server.

We setup the #trust relationship during the install and maintenance.

Positive Consequences

  • Code reviewed and trusted by large corporations (Docker Images) and in safety critial fields (Automobiles)
  • Off the shelf

Negative Consequences

  • Unknown support costs

Option graveyard Steam only

Steam provides a distribution network and marketplace.

List the reasons for the rejection: (the Bad traits)

  • Third party #trust

Option graveyard Itch.io only

Itch.io provides a distribution network and marketplace.

List the reasons for the rejection: (the Bad traits)

  • Third party #trust

If this enhancement will not be used often, can it be worked around with a few lines of script?

Not trivial. The documentation of Notary start by the description of a possible security model and provides several attacks against it.

Is there a reason why this should be core and done by us?

From a security standpoint, we need to ensure that there is a #trust between the software we send and the client supply chain to get it.

References

  • https://github.com/kolide/updater
  • https://github.com/theupdateframework/notary
  • https://github.com/theupdateframework/specification/blob/master/tuf-spec.md

Derivative License

Copyright (c) 2020-2021 V-Sekai contributors.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.