README child-mnemonic vector and host-key note; ssh install refuses a ~/.ssh it cannot enter (closes #51)

The README now gives the child mnemonic keyfunc prints for the abandon ... about test mnemonic at index 0, checked by the README vectors test; the BIP-85 specification vector stays, marked as starting from a master key keyfunc cannot take. It also says ssh install needs the host key in known_hosts already, and how to get round that. ssh install now also lists ~/.ssh/. on its first connection and refuses, before any upload, a ~/.ssh it can read but not enter, which sftp shows as empty; a file where ~/.ssh belongs is refused the same way.

Model: opus-5-5
Co-authored-by: clawbot <sneak+clawbot@sneak.cloud>

README.md

@@ -163,21 +163,23 @@ Adds the `pub` line to `~/.ssh/authorized_keys` on the host. No command is run
 on the host: the file is fetched, changed here, and written back with the system
 `sftp` client in batch mode.
 
-The first connection lists `~/.ssh` and then fetches `~/.ssh/authorized_keys`
+The first connection lists `~/.ssh`, then `~/.ssh/.`, and then fetches
-from it. The file reads as empty in two cases only: `sftp` reported `~/.ssh`
+`~/.ssh/authorized_keys`. The file reads as empty in two cases only: `sftp`
-itself as not being there, or the listing came up and the file was not in it.
+reported `~/.ssh` itself as not being there, or both listings came up and the
-Any other outcome of that connection fails the run — a `~/.ssh` that is there
+file was not found. Any other outcome of that connection fails the run — a
-but cannot be entered, an `authorized_keys` that is there but cannot be read, or
+`~/.ssh` that is there but cannot be read or entered, an `authorized_keys` that
-a connection that did not come up — and the tool prints what `sftp` said and
+is there but cannot be read, or a connection that did not come up — and the tool
-exits with status 1 without writing anything, rather than put a file back
+prints what `sftp` said and exits with status 1 without writing anything, rather
-holding the new key alone. The listing is what tells a missing directory from
+than put a file back holding the new key alone. The listings are what tell a
-one shut to the user, which `sftp` reports on a fetch the same way; the wording
+missing directory from one shut to the user, which `sftp` reports on a fetch the
-of a missing file elsewhere does not count either, since `ssh` writes
+same way: one that cannot be read fails the first listing, and one that can be
-`No such file or directory` about an `-i` it cannot find on a session that then
+read but not entered fails the second, after which the tool says that `~/.ssh`
-authenticates through the agent. If an identical line is already in the file,
+cannot be entered. The wording of a missing file elsewhere does not count
-the tool prints `already present` and connects no further. Otherwise the line is
+either, since `ssh` writes `No such file or directory` about an `-i` it cannot
-added (after a newline, if the file did not end with one) and a second
+find on a session that then authenticates through the agent. If an identical
-connection:
+line is already in the file, the tool prints `already present` and connects no
+further. Otherwise the line is added (after a newline, if the file did not end
+with one) and a second connection:
 
 - makes `~/.ssh` and sets it to mode `0700`, but only when the first connection
   found none; a `~/.ssh` that was already there keeps the mode it had;
@@ -200,7 +202,10 @@ error, so the tool's own standard output is only `added` or `already present`.
 Anything after `--` is passed to `sftp` unchanged, which is where the port goes
 (`-P 2222`, not `-p`). How the connection authenticates is up to the user's
 normal `ssh` setup, except that batch mode does not prompt: a key or an agent
-has to do it, not a typed password.
+has to do it, not a typed password. Nor does it ask whether to trust a host key
+it has not seen, so the host has to be in `known_hosts` already, or the run
+fails with `Host key verification failed`. Connect to the host once with `ssh`
+first, or pass `-o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new` after `--`.
 
 ### `keyfunc ssh to <host> [ssh arguments...]`
 
@@ -261,10 +266,18 @@ A child mnemonic is a full mnemonic in its own right: it can seed another
 `keyfunc`, another wallet, or `secret`, and it never has to be written down,
 since it can be derived again.
 
-Test vector: the child-mnemonic step is checked against BIP-85's own published
+Test vector, mnemonic
-vectors, which derive from the specification's master key
+`abandon abandon abandon abandon abandon abandon abandon abandon abandon abandon abandon about`:
-`xprv9s21ZrQH143K2LBWUUQRFXhucrQqBpKdRRxNVq2zBqsx8HVqFk2uYo8kmbaLLHRdqtQpUm98uKfu3vca1LqdGhUtyoFnCNkfmXRyPXLjbKb`.
+
-At key index 0 the 12-word English child mnemonic is:
+```
+index 0: prosper short ramp prepare exchange stove life snack client enough purpose fold
+```
+
+The child-mnemonic step is also checked against BIP-85's own published vectors.
+Those start from the specification's master key
+`xprv9s21ZrQH143K2LBWUUQRFXhucrQqBpKdRRxNVq2zBqsx8HVqFk2uYo8kmbaLLHRdqtQpUm98uKfu3vca1LqdGhUtyoFnCNkfmXRyPXLjbKb`
+rather than from a mnemonic, so they cannot be given to `keyfunc`; at key index
+0 the 12-word English child mnemonic of that key is:
 
 ```
 girl mad pet galaxy egg matter matrix prison refuse sense ordinary nose

internal/cli/cli_test.go

@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@ const (
 		"0I4FKs+eVUulTPHfk9VtXw1tMF"
 )
 
+// The child mnemonic the README says the example mnemonic gives at
+// index 0.
+const childZero = "prosper short ramp prepare exchange stove life " +
+	"snack client enough purpose fold"
+
 // The two child mnemonic lengths the tests ask for.
 const (
 	twelve     = 12
@@ -45,6 +50,9 @@ func TestTheReadmeTestVectors(t *testing.T) {
 		vectorOne+" keyfunc/ssh/1",
 		strings.TrimSpace(run(t, "ssh", "pub", "-n", "1")),
 	)
+	require.Equal(t,
+		childZero, strings.TrimSpace(run(t, "mnemonic", "-n", "0")),
+	)
 }
 
 func TestTheSpacingBetweenTheWordsDoesNotChangeTheKeys(t *testing.T) {

internal/cli/ssh/install.go

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"crypto/rand"
 	"encoding/hex"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
@@ -32,6 +33,12 @@ const (
 	localMode     = 0o600
 )
 
+// ErrCannotEnter is the refusal of a host whose .ssh is there but
+// cannot be entered, so that nothing in it can be read or written.
+var ErrCannotEnter = errors.New(
+	"~/.ssh is there on the host but cannot be entered",
+)
+
 // install returns the command that adds the public key to a host.
 func install() *cobra.Command {
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
@@ -199,30 +206,39 @@ func merge(content, line string) (string, bool) {
 
 // fetch brings the host's authorized_keys into the given path and
 // returns what is in it, and whether the .ssh directory was already
-// there. The one session lists .ssh and then gets the file, so the
+// there. The one session lists .ssh, then .ssh/., and then gets the
-// listing settles the state of the directory before the get is read.
+// file, so the listings settle the state of the directory before the
+// get is read.
 //
 // The file reads as empty in just two cases: sftp reported .ssh itself
-// as not there, or the listing succeeded and the get then reported the
+// as not there, or both listings succeeded and the get then reported
-// file as not there. Anything else — the listing refused, the file
+// the file as not there. Anything else — a listing refused, the file
 // there but unreadable, the connection down — fails the run and writes
 // nothing, because writing back over what was not read would leave the
 // host with the new key and nothing else. sftp cannot tell a missing
-// file from one in a directory it cannot enter, so the listing does:
+// file from one in a directory it cannot enter, so the listings do: a
-// a directory that is there but cannot be read is a failure, not an
+// directory that is there but cannot be read fails the first, and one
-// empty file.
+// that can be read but not entered fails the second, because nothing in
+// it can be looked up, not even ".". The first listing of such a
+// directory comes up empty, as the server leaves out every name it
+// cannot look up.
 func fetch(
 	cmd *cobra.Command, host string, options []string, into string,
 ) (string, bool, error) {
 	said, err := session(cmd, host, options, []string{
 		"ls -1 " + directory,
+		"ls -1 " + directory + "/.",
 		"get " + authorized + " " + quoted(into),
 	})
 	if err != nil {
-		if directoryAbsent(said) {
+		if listingNotFound(said, directory) {
 			return "", false, nil
 		}
 
+		if listingNotFound(said, directory+"/.") {
+			return "", false, ErrCannotEnter
+		}
+
 		if absent(said) {
 			return "", true, nil
 		}
@@ -239,18 +255,18 @@ func fetch(
 	return string(content), true, nil
 }
 
-// directoryAbsent says whether sftp reported .ssh itself as not being
+// listingNotFound says whether sftp reported the path it was asked to
-// there, which is the one listing failure read as a host that has no
+// list as not being there. For .ssh that is the one listing failure
-// authorized_keys yet. The reading is taken only from the line in which
+// read as a host that has no authorized_keys yet; for .ssh/., once .ssh
-// sftp reports on that directory: any other failure of the listing, in
+// itself has been listed, it is a .ssh that is there but cannot be
-// particular a directory that is there but cannot be entered, is left
+// entered. The reading is taken only from the line in which sftp
-// as a failure, so that no key is written to a host whose keys were
+// reports on that path: any other failure of a listing, in particular a
-// never read.
+// directory that is there but cannot be read, is left as a failure, so
-func directoryAbsent(said string) bool {
+// that no key is written to a host whose keys were never read.
+func listingNotFound(said, path string) bool {
 	for line := range strings.Lines(said) {
 		named, is := reportedCannotList(strings.TrimSpace(line))
-		if is && (named == directory ||
+		if is && (named == path || strings.HasSuffix(named, "/"+path)) {
-			strings.HasSuffix(named, "/"+directory)) {
 			return true
 		}
 	}
@@ -259,9 +275,9 @@ func directoryAbsent(said string) bool {
 }
 
 // reportedCannotList returns the path an sftp line reports it cannot
-// list for want of the directory, and whether the line is such a
+// list for want of it, and whether the line is such a report. The
-// report. The client writes this one wording when the directory a
+// client writes this one wording when it cannot look up the path a
-// listing names is not there, giving the path the server expanded.
+// listing names, giving the path the server expanded.
 func reportedCannotList(line string) (string, bool) {
 	const (
 		before = `Can't ls: "`

internal/cli/ssh/install_test.go

@@ -80,8 +80,11 @@ func TestAbsenceIsReadOnlyFromWhatSFTPSaidAboutAuthorizedKeys(t *testing.T) {
 
 // TestTheDirectoryIsReadAsAbsentOnlyFromTheListingSayingSo holds the
 // wordings the OpenSSH client was seen to use when a listing fails: a
-// directory it cannot find is reported one way, and one it cannot enter
+// directory it cannot find is reported one way, and one it cannot read
-// another, and only the first is read as a host with no .ssh yet.
+// another, and only the first is read as a host with no .ssh yet. A
+// .ssh that can be read but not entered lists as empty, and the
+// listing of .ssh/. that follows reports that path, not .ssh, as not
+// found.
 func TestTheDirectoryIsReadAsAbsentOnlyFromTheListingSayingSo(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
@@ -102,11 +105,16 @@ func TestTheDirectoryIsReadAsAbsentOnlyFromTheListingSayingSo(t *testing.T) {
 				`Can't ls: "/home/someone/.ssh" not found` + "\n",
 			want: true,
 		},
-		"the directory is there and cannot be entered": {
+		"the directory is there and cannot be read": {
 			said: listed +
 				`remote readdir("/home/someone/.ssh/"): Permission denied` + "\n",
 			want: false,
 		},
+		"the directory is there and cannot be entered": {
+			said: listed + "sftp> ls -1 .ssh/.\n" +
+				`Can't ls: "/home/someone/.ssh/." not found` + "\n",
+			want: false,
+		},
 		"some other directory is not there": {
 			said: listed + `Can't ls: "/home/someone/.config" not found` + "\n",
 			want: false,
@@ -122,7 +130,7 @@ func TestTheDirectoryIsReadAsAbsentOnlyFromTheListingSayingSo(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Parallel()
 
-			if directoryAbsent(listing.said) != listing.want {
+			if listingNotFound(listing.said, directory) != listing.want {
 				t.Errorf(
 					"read as absent: %t, wanted %t, from:\n%s",
 					!listing.want, listing.want, listing.said,

internal/cli/ssh_test.go

@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ const (
 )
 
 // notADirectory is what a test puts where the .ssh directory belongs
-// to make a step of the write session fail.
+// to make a .ssh that is listed but cannot be entered.
 const notADirectory = "a file where the directory belongs\n"
 
 // missingIdentity is a path with no file at it, handed to sftp after
@@ -106,9 +106,11 @@ const marker = "KEYFUNC_TEST_MARKER"
 // another for a file that is there and cannot be read, which is a
 // failure. A directory shut to the user is stood in for by mode 000,
 // which the listing reads off the mode itself so that the test does not
-// turn on the user it runs as. An -i naming a file that is not here
+// turn on the user it runs as, and one the user can enter but not write
-// draws the warning ssh writes for it, which carries the wording of a
+// to by mode 500, which the put reads off the same way. An -i naming a
-// missing file into a session that goes on to authenticate.
+// file that is not here draws the warning ssh writes for it, which
+// carries the wording of a missing file into a session that goes on to
+// authenticate.
 const installer = `
 [ -n "$KEYFUNC_TEST_ENVIRONMENT" ] && env > "$KEYFUNC_TEST_ENVIRONMENT"
 previous=
@@ -160,7 +162,13 @@ while IFS= read -r line; do
 			printf 'remote open "%s": Permission denied\n' "$home/$2" >&2
 		fi
 		;;
-	put) cp "$2" "$home/$3" 2>/dev/null || worked=no ;;
+	put)
+		if [ "$(stat -c '%a' "$(dirname "$home/$3")")" = 500 ]; then
+			worked=no
+		else
+			cp "$2" "$home/$3" 2>/dev/null || worked=no
+		fi
+		;;
 	mkdir) mkdir "$home/$2" 2>/dev/null || worked=no ;;
 	chmod) chmod "$2" "$home/$3" 2>/dev/null || worked=no ;;
 	rename) mv "$home/$2" "$home/$3" 2>/dev/null || worked=no ;;
@@ -329,6 +337,29 @@ func TestAnUnreadableDirectoryIsNotWrittenInto(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Equal(t, 1, connections(t, pretend))
 }
 
+func TestADirectoryThatCannotBeEnteredIsRefusedBeforeAnyUpload(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Setenv(mnemonic.Variable, example())
+
+	pretend := pretendHost(t)
+
+	// A file where .ssh belongs is listed and cannot be entered, which is
+	// how sftp sees a directory that can be read but not entered: the
+	// listing of .ssh comes up and the listing of .ssh/. finds nothing.
+	inTheWay := filepath.Join(pretend.home, keptUnder)
+	require.NoError(t,
+		os.WriteFile(inTheWay, []byte(notADirectory), fileMode),
+	)
+
+	printed, _, err := attempt(t, host)
+	require.ErrorIs(t, err, ssh.ErrCannotEnter)
+	require.Empty(t, printed)
+
+	// The read and nothing after it: no upload was tried, and what was
+	// on the host is still what is on the host.
+	require.Equal(t, 1, connections(t, pretend))
+	require.Equal(t, notADirectory, read(t, inTheWay))
+}
+
 func TestAnExistingDirectoryKeepsItsModeAndIsNotRemade(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Setenv(mnemonic.Variable, example())
 
@@ -392,27 +423,30 @@ func TestAFailedStepNamesTheUploadedFileAndChangesNothing(t *testing.T) {
 
 	pretend := pretendHost(t)
 
-	// A file where the .ssh directory belongs: the listing shows it and
+	// A .ssh that can be listed and entered but not written to: the
-	// so the directory reads as already there, but then the put has
+	// fetch finds no file in it, and then the put has nowhere to put
-	// nowhere to put anything, so the write session ends at the put.
+	// anything, so the write session ends at the put.
-	inTheWay := filepath.Join(pretend.home, keptUnder)
+	const unwritable = 0o500
-	require.NoError(t,
+
-		os.WriteFile(inTheWay, []byte(notADirectory), fileMode),
+	directory := filepath.Join(pretend.home, keptUnder)
-	)
+	require.NoError(t, os.Mkdir(directory, unwritable))
 
 	printed, said, err := attempt(t, host)
 	require.Error(t, err)
 	require.Empty(t, printed)
 	require.Contains(t, said, "put failed")
 
-	// The put is the first and last command the write session got to,
+	// The put, after the three commands of the fetch, is the first and
-	// and the file it was uploading is the one the message names.
+	// last command the write session got to, and the file it was
+	// uploading is the one the message names.
 	sent := recorded(t, pretend.batch)
-	require.Len(t, sent, 3)
+	require.Len(t, sent, 4)
-	require.Equal(t, "put", strings.Fields(sent[2])[0])
+	require.Equal(t, "put", strings.Fields(sent[3])[0])
-	require.Contains(t, err.Error(), strings.Fields(sent[2])[2])
+	require.Contains(t, err.Error(), strings.Fields(sent[3])[2])
 
-	require.Equal(t, notADirectory, read(t, inTheWay))
+	left, err := os.ReadDir(directory)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Empty(t, left)
 
 	// The same run again, this way for the status it ends with.
 	given := os.Args