From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Linus Torvalds Subject: Re: encrypted repositories? Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:42:36 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: References: <43d8ce650907171322y60aaa0f3na335b7a4a2fe32c1@mail.gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Cc: Matthias Andree , git@vger.kernel.org To: John Tapsell X-From: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Fri Jul 17 22:43:06 2009 Return-path: Envelope-to: gcvg-git-2@gmane.org Received: from vger.kernel.org ([209.132.176.167]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1MRuGn-0004a6-Rk for gcvg-git-2@gmane.org; Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:43:06 +0200 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1756905AbZGQUnB (ORCPT ); Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:43:01 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1756680AbZGQUnA (ORCPT ); Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:43:00 -0400 Received: from smtp1.linux-foundation.org ([140.211.169.13]:60784 "EHLO smtp1.linux-foundation.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1756730AbZGQUm7 (ORCPT ); Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:42:59 -0400 Received: from imap1.linux-foundation.org (imap1.linux-foundation.org [140.211.169.55]) by smtp1.linux-foundation.org (8.14.2/8.13.5/Debian-3ubuntu1.1) with ESMTP id n6HKga0U002727 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:42:37 -0700 Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by imap1.linux-foundation.org (8.13.5.20060308/8.13.5/Debian-3ubuntu1.1) with ESMTP id n6HKgaE8010273; Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:42:36 -0700 X-X-Sender: torvalds@localhost.localdomain In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Alpine 2.01 (LFD 1184 2008-12-16) X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-3.465 required=5 tests=AWL,BAYES_00 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.2.4-osdl_revision__1.47__ X-MIMEDefang-Filter: lf$Revision: 1.188 $ X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.63 on 140.211.169.13 Sender: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org Archived-At: On Fri, 17 Jul 2009, Linus Torvalds wrote: > > On Fri, 17 Jul 2009, John Tapsell wrote: > > > > Why couldn't you have the actual code encrypted, but have the server > > still know about the SHAs etc? You would expose the actual commit > > structure, but that might be acceptable? > > Even that wouldn't really work, because you'd never be able to generate > any deltas. > > So there would be no real advantage. In fact, there would be only > disadvantages, because without any delta generation, you'd now have to > actually transfer _more_ data. Oh, if you let the server know all the SHA's at _all_ levels (ie down to the blob itself), and then just make the blobs be encrypted, we'd be able to do some trivial optimizations, like only sending the actual blobs that changed. HOWEVER. That would reveal absolutely tons of data about the repository, and about the history. You'd have lost a _lot_ of security. Linus