vole
Clone
Read only, no credentials:
https://rodent.software/git/vole.git
Write over SSH with a registered key:
git clone ssh://git@0.0.0.0:2222/vole.git
A free and open-source forge that lives in your Git repo.
Close the approval-forgery hole: check every write, not just additions
362932289cfbecbca4f9937def07b21671bc1aee · Keenan Nemetz · 17d ago · parent 1eeca4e6
Close the approval-forgery hole: check every write, not just additions The check that an approval is written by the principal it names used `--diff-filter=A`, so it only looked at newly added files. An approval that already existed could simply be edited: approve commit A, then rewrite approvals/<me>.json to name commit B and land B with the approver's name on it. A test now demonstrates that exact forgery before the fix and refuses it after. The check is now driven by the change status of every path: any non-deletion on `approvals/<name>.json` requires the actor to be `<name>`, and the first push (no old commit to diff, so every approval in the tree is new) is checked the same way. Deletion is limited to the owner, because removing someone else's approval forges nothing but erases their statement; an admin may still do it, and that is written to the audit log rather than happening silently. Renames land in the same net: without rename detection a move appears as an add, which the check sees, and the destination path is what the check reads. Also worth recording what the enforcement actually rests on, since the file name is the only name that carries authority: the SSH handshake resolves the presented key to a user through data/trusted_keys/<user>.keys, that mapping is one-to-one (a key already owned by another user is refused at add time and fatal at load), and the resolved name reaches the hook as VOLE_ACTOR, which the client cannot set because the exec surface is a two-entry whitelist. `author` fields in meta.json remain display-only and decide nothing. The remaining limitation is honest: this is enforcement at push time, not proof at read time. A clone shows that an approval file exists, not that the server saw its owner write it. Signed attestations in Phase 7 are what would make it verifiable offline.
docs/roadmap.md +7−1
| @@ -201,6 +201,11 @@ requests/<ulid>/approvals/<principal>.json base + head + created | |||
| 201 | 201 | too, at the CLI and again in validation. | |
| 202 | 202 | - **View**: list and detail pages, current versus stale approvals, and the file list the | |
| 203 | 203 | request would change. | |
| 204 | - **Limitation, stated plainly**: ownership is enforced at push time, not verifiable at | ||
| 205 | read time. Someone holding a clone can see that `approvals/keenan.json` exists but not | ||
| 206 | prove the server saw keenan write it; that rests on `data/audit.log` and on the gate | ||
| 207 | having refused forgeries. Publishing signed attestations (Phase 7) is what would make | ||
| 208 | it verifiable offline. | ||
| 204 | 209 | ||
| 205 | 210 | Deferred to later phases: | |
| 206 | 211 | ||
| @@ -354,7 +359,8 @@ Filled in as phases land. Append; don't rewrite. | |||
| 354 | 359 | | 2026-10-22 | Issues and requests share `refs/heads/vole`; linear history, no merges | One ref, one push, atomic cross-cutting edits; entities are separate files so a re-apply never conflicts | | |
| 355 | 360 | | 2026-10-22 | Force-push to metadata is admin-only and audited | Redaction is a real need, but it must never be silent | | |
| 356 | 361 | | 2026-10-22 | Approvals name a commit and a branch; the merge is a push | A branch-moving head makes "approve once" meaningless, and a push needs no new write surface | | |
| 357 | | 2026-10-22 | Only the named principal may add an approval file | A filename is not authentication; the hook compares it to the SSH identity | | ||
| 362 | | 2026-10-22 | Only the named principal may write their own approval file | A filename is not authentication; the hook compares it to the SSH identity resolved at handshake | | ||
| 363 | | 2026-10-22 | Approval ownership checks cover modify/rename, not just add | A file that already exists can be edited to name a different commit; `--diff-filter=A` alone is bypassable | | ||
| 358 | 364 | | 2026-10-22 | CLI accepts options after arguments, as git does | Refusing them is a local dialect; `git commit -m x path` is the shape people type | | |
| 359 | 365 | ||
| 360 | 366 | ## Open questions | |