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ssh_adapter.md

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SSH protocol proposal

We'd like to implement a protocol for Git LFS that uses SSH protocol exclusively, avoiding the need to use HTTPS altogether. This will make deployment and use easier in a variety of situations where access to certain ports is limited.

This is merely a proposal, not a commitment to implement for either the client or server side. Implementers who prefer to use HTTP can continue to do so.

What not to do

There are several possible approaches that could be adopted. SSH provides a native capability for the SFTP protocol, which can be used to transfer files. However, in order to implement this on the server side, each access (upload or download) must have an access control check instead of one at the beginning of the operation. This would be inefficient in some server-side implementations, and nearly impossible to implement securely for implementations that use the system OpenSSH for implementation.

A more usable approach

Git already has some places we can look for inspiration. Its SSH protocol is based on the Git native protocol, which is based on the pkt-line scheme. Recently, Git has learned about protocol version 2, which provides better support for expressing and negotiating capabilities.

Ideally, we would allow multiple operations to occur on a single connection for efficiency's sake, especially on high-latency connections, where the cost of SSH connection setup may be high due to multiple round trips. In addition, a protocol which maps well onto HTTP may be beneficial for those server-side implementations which would like to proxy connections to an HTTP-based backend.

Preliminary design

This design assumes a reference to Git's pkt-line and protocol v2 documentation. pkt-line headers for this document may contain values up to 65519 decimal.

To initiate a connection, Git LFS should run the following command:

$ ssh [{user}@]{server} git-lfs-transfer {path} {operation}

If authentication fails, or some other connection error occurs, errors will be read from standard error and displayed to the user. The operation may be upload, download. Other operations may be implemented in the future.

Once the connection is established, the server should send a capability advertisement:

capability-advertisement = capability-list flush-pkt
capability-list = *capability
capability = PKT-LINE(key[=value] LF)

key = 1*(ALPHA | DIGIT | "-_")
value = 1*(ALPHA | DIGIT | "-_.,?\/{}[]()<>!@#$%^&*+=:;")

Unlike the Git protocol, but like IMAP, the protocol version is specified as a capability. This document defines protocol version 1, which is specified as version=1. If the server supports other protocol versions, it may enumerate them here as well.

If the server supports locking, the locking capability should be advertised, and the client may then use the lock, unlock, and list-lock commands.

No capabilities other than the base functionality specified here are enabled without the client explicitly enabling them. Note that the value production here, unlike in Git, does not include the space character, since it is used as a delimiter in parts of the protocol.

The client will then issue an appropriate version command:

version-request = PKT-LINE("version " number LF) flush-pkt
number = 1*DIGIT

The response from the server will look like the following:

version-response = status-command
                   delim-pkt
                   error-message
                   flush-pkt
status-command = PKT-LINE("status " http-status-code LF)
http-status-code = 3DIGIT
error-message = *PKT-LINE(data LF)

The http-status-code portion of the response is an HTTP status code, identical to those used if the request is made over HTTP.

The response code should be 200 if the version is accepted or 400 if it is not. Other values are possible if other errors occur.

When the protocol is complete, the client sends a quit request:

quit-request = PKT-LINE("quit" LF) flush-pkt

The server must respond with success and then terminate the connection:

quit-response = PKT-LINE("status 200" LF)
                flush-pkt

This command exists to help distinguish expected termination from unexpected termination.

Requests to transfer objects

These commands may be used if the operation was upload or download.

The batch command is used to specify a JSON command identical those used at the info/lfs/object/batch endpoint:

batch-request = batch-command
                *argument
                delim-pkt
                *oid-line
                flush-pkt
batch-command = PKT-LINE("batch" LF)
argument = PKT-LINE(key=[data] LF)
oid-line = PKT-LINE(oid size *(key=[value]) LF)
oid = 1*("a-f0-9")
size = 1*DIGIT

The transfer argument is equivalent to the corresponding value in the HTTP JSON API. The refname argument is equivalent to the name argument of the ref object in the HTTP JSON API. The hash-algo argument is equivalent to the hash_algo argument in the HTTP JSON API.

Unknown arguments should be ignored, as should unknown key-value pairs in the oid-line production.

The response from the server will look like the following:

batch-response = status-command
                 *argument
                 delim-pkt
                 (*batch-oid-line | error-message)
                 flush-pkt
batch-oid-line = PKT-LINE(oid size action *(key=[value]) LF)

If the status command is successful (that is, the status is not 200-series response), the data provided matches the *batch-oid-line production; otherwise, the data provided represents a user-visible error message.

The server response should contain one pkt-line per oid-size-action tuple. That is, the same oid and size may be repeated if there are multiple actions. If the server has no actions that are valid for an object, it should be listed once in the response with the noop action.

The response for an oid may include a string, id, which is an opaque identifier relevant only to the server to help it identify the object, and another string, token, which is an opaque identifier relevant only to the server to help it manage authentication. These strings must meet the syntax for the value production above; if arbitrary bytes are needed, Base64 encoding is recommended.

The hash-algo argument has the same meaning as the hash_algo field in the HTTP JSON API.

The expires-in and expires-at key-value pairs have the same meaning as their corresponding items from the HTTP JSON API.

These values, if specified, must be passed as arguments to the get-object and put-object commands.

Downloads

These commands may be used if the operation was download.

If the operation was download, the command get-object may be used to retrieve an object:

get-object-request = get-object-command
                     *arguments
                     flush-pkt
get-object-command = PKT-LINE("get-object " oid LF)

If the id or token responses were provided in the response to batch, they must be specified as arguments here. The server may choose to ignore the oid field specified in favor of looking up the data using the id field.

The response looks like the following:

status-data-response = status-success-response | status-error-response
status-success-response = status-success-command
                          *argument
                          delim-pkt
                          binary-data
                          flush-pkt
status-success-command = PKT-LINE("status 200" LF)
binary-data = *PKT-LINE(data)
status-error-response = status-error-command
                        *argument
                        delim-pkt
                        error-message
                        flush-pkt
status-error-command = PKT-LINE("status " http-error-code LF)
http-error-code = ("4" | "5") 2DIGIT

The size argument is required on status responses to get-object commands.

Uploads

These commands may be used if the operation was upload.

If the operation was upload, the commands put-object and verify-object may be specified. put-object is used to upload an object to the server:

put-object-request = put-object-command
                     *argument
                     delim-pkt
                     binary-data
                     flush-pkt
put-object-command = PKT-LINE("put-object " oid LF)

As above, the size command is required and id and token are required if provided by the server. The response matches the status-data-response production. The binary-data returned on success is not meaningful and should be empty.

The verify-object command is used to verify an object:

verify-object-request = verify-object-command
                        *argument
                        flush-pkt
verify-object-command = PKT-LINE("verify-object " oid LF)

A size argument identical to the one used in put-object is mandatory. The id and token items from the batch request must also be passed as arguments here, if specified.

The response matches the following:

generic-status-response = generic-success-response | status-error-response
generic-success-response = generic-success-command
                           *argument
                           flush-pkt
generic-success-command = PKT-LINE("status 200" LF)

Locks

The lock command may be used to lock a file on a ref:

lock-request = lock-command
               *argument
               flush-pkt
lock-command = PKT-LINE("lock" LF)

The path and refname arguments correspond to the path component and the name component of the ref object in the HTTP JSON API.

The response is as follows:

lock-response = lock-success-response | status-error-response
lock-success-response = lock-success-command
                        *argument
                        flush-pkt
lock-success-command = PKT-LINE("status 201" LF)

If the response is either successful or a 409 response, the arguments id, path, locked-at, and ownername are provided. In case of a successful response, these attributes represent the created lock; if the response is a 409, then the attributes represent the conflicting lock.

The list-lock command may be used to list and verify locks:

list-lock-request = list-lock-command
                    *argument
                    flush-pkt
list-lock-command = PKT-LINE("list-lock" LF)

The path, id, cursor, limit, and refspec correspond to the items in the HTTP JSON API.

list-lock-response = list-lock-success-response | status-error-response
list-lock-success-response = list-lock-success-command
                             *argument
                             delim-pkt
                             *lock-spec
                             flush-pkt
list-lock-success-command = PKT-LINE("status 200" LF)
lock-spec = lock-decl
            path-id
            locked-at
            ownername-id
            *owner-id
lock-decl = PKT-LINE("lock " lock-id LF)
lock-id = value
path-id = PKT-LINE("path " lock-id path LF)
path = data
locked-at = PKT-LINE("locked-at " lock-id timestamp LF)
ownername-id = PKT-LINE("ownername " lock-id ownername LF)
ownername = data
owner-id = PKT-LINE("owner " lock-id who LF)
who = ("ours" | "theirs")

The lock-decl production declares a new lock. The lock-id production refers to the ID provided by the server. The same ID is repeated in each line to allow for easier parsing.

The next-cursor argument indicates the next value of the cursor argument to be passed to the list-lock command. If there is no next-cursor argument, this is the final response.

The owner-id specification is optional if the user specified the command as download but is required if the command is upload.

unlock-request = unlock-command
                 *argument
                 flush-pkt
unlock-command = PKT-LINE("unlock " lock-id LF)

The force and refname arguments have the same meaning as their corresponding values in the HTTP JSON API. The response is as follows:

unlock-response = unlock-success-response | status-error-response
unlock-success-response = unlock-success-command
                          *argument
                          flush-pkt
unlock-success-command = PKT-LINE("status 200" LF)

The lock and unlock commands may be issued when the command was upload. If the remote side has a concept of a repository administrator, it is recommended that unlocking a lock that the user does not own be reserved to the administrator.

The list-lock commands may be issued when the command was upload or download.