Keep secrets out of the Docker build context at every depth (closes #29)

The canonical .dockerignore was three lines while the canonical
Dockerfile does `COPY . .`, so a local .env, *.pem or *.key shipped into
the build context and could land in an image layer, invisible to every
git-based check. Copying .gitignore's patterns across is not the repair:
.dockerignore anchors an unprefixed pattern at the context root, so that
form protects only the repository root while reading as solved. Every
depth-independent pattern here carries `**/`, and secret names are
character ranges because matching is case-sensitive and an ALL-CAPS twin
still misses `Server.Key`. Public certificates are deliberately left in
as a legitimate build input. Verified by enumerating a probe image.

Model: opus-5
This commit is contained in:
2026-09-08 04:58:31 +00:00
parent cb450f7de3
commit a8905f5fe7
5 changed files with 104 additions and 4 deletions

View File

@@ -257,7 +257,38 @@ style conventions are in separate documents:
editor files (`.swp`, `*~`), language build artifacts, and `node_modules/`.
Fetch the standard `.gitignore` from
`https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/prompts/raw/branch/main/.gitignore` when setting up
a new repo.
a new repo. These patterns are written to `.gitignore`'s own semantics, in
which an unanchored pattern already matches at every depth; they are not a
`.dockerignore` and must not be transplanted into one unmodified.
- **`.dockerignore` does not use `.gitignore` semantics, and copying patterns
across unmodified leaves secrets in the build context.** Docker matches with
`moby/patternmatcher`: `filepath.Match` semantics plus a `**` extension, so
`*` does not cross `/` and a pattern without a leading `**/` is anchored at
the build-context root. A `.dockerignore` listing `.env`, `*.pem` and `*.key`
therefore excludes only the copies at the repository root, while `config/.env`
and `certs/server.key` still reach the context and can land in an image layer
— which is more dangerous than a short file with no secret patterns at all,
because it reads as solved and stops anyone looking. Give every
depth-independent pattern the `**/` prefix and leave only genuinely
root-anchored entries unprefixed: `.git`, and the repo's own host-built
binary, written `/myapp` and never `**/myapp`, which would also match
`cmd/myapp/` and delete the package directory from the context. Matching is
case-sensitive, and an ALL-CAPS twin per pattern still misses `Server.Key`, so
secret names use character ranges — `**/*.[kK][eE][yY]`, `**/*.[pP][eE][mM]`,
and likewise for `.envrc` and the extensionless SSH keys. Where such a pattern
also catches something the build needs, re-include it with a negation
(`!docs/example.env`); deleting the pattern reopens the exposure for every
other file it covers. Fetch the standard `.dockerignore` from
`https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/prompts/raw/branch/main/.dockerignore` and extend
it with the repo's own artifacts.
- **Verify `.dockerignore` by enumerating the image, not by reading the
patterns.** Plant files at the root _and_ at least two directories deep, build
a probe image that does `COPY . .`, and list what actually landed
(`docker run --rm --entrypoint find IMAGE /app`). The `transferring context`
size is not a substitute: a nested secret is a few bytes, and BuildKit
transfers only the delta from the previous build.
- **No build artifacts in version control.** Code-derived data (compiled
bundles, minified output, generated assets) must never be committed to the