Fix and expand §1.3 — on-disk identity format (real spec bug!)

Closes Tier 1 #6 and the entire Tier 1 sweep. Previous §1.3 said the
on-disk byte order was Ed25519_priv(32) || X25519_priv(32) ("opposite
of the public_key concatenation"). That was WRONG.

Verified empirically against RNS 1.2.0 by round-tripping the existing
test vectors through Identity.to_file and reading the bytes back:

    disk = X25519_priv(32) || Ed25519_priv(32)    # same as public_key

This matches Identity.get_private_key() at RNS/Identity.py:694-698:
   return self.prv_bytes + self.sig_prv_bytes
where prv_bytes is X25519 (line 679) and sig_prv_bytes is Ed25519
(line 682). It also matches load_private_key at line 706-717.

Implementations following the prior spec wording would have written
identity files that fail to load on upstream RNS — a real interop
break that would have been very hard to debug because the failure is
in keypair-loading, before any signature operation runs.

§1.3 rewritten and expanded:

  - Correct byte order with citation to upstream code.
  - 64-byte raw-blob format with explicit "no header / no version /
    no checksum / no encryption".
  - File-system facts: no chmod, expected to live in OS-protected
    storage, filename is caller-controlled.
  - from_bytes HAZARD note: feeding raw random bytes skips the
    `cryptography` library's keypair-generation invariants
    (X25519 RFC 7748 §5 scalar clamping etc).
  - Cross-implementation portability follows automatically because
    there's nothing in the file but the bytes.
  - ⚠️ Spec correction callout warning future readers about the
    previous wording so the bug history is on record.

tools/verify_destination_hash.py extended with a §1.3 to_file /
from_file round-trip section. For each test vector it now:
  - writes the identity via to_file
  - asserts the on-disk file is exactly 64 bytes
  - asserts disk[:32] hex == expected x25519_priv_hex
  - asserts disk[32:64] hex == expected ed25519_priv_hex
  - reloads via from_file and asserts identity_hash invariance

This is what would have caught the bug if it had been there from the
start. tools/README.md updated to reflect §1.3 coverage.

Cumulative Tier 1 status: 6 of 6 done. A from-scratch client built
from §1-§9 + §10 + §11 + flows/ can now interop with upstream
Reticulum / LXMF / RNode for identity, announce, opportunistic LXMF
DATA, Resource fragmentation, regular PROOF receipts, link
handshakes with MTU/mode signalling, path-? discovery, and
KISS/HDLC/RNode-air-frame framing. Tiers 2 and 3 remain open in the
todo for follow-up.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Rob 2026-05-03 11:54:54 -04:00
commit 537b1e8182
4 changed files with 106 additions and 9 deletions

45
SPEC.md
View file

@ -50,7 +50,50 @@ Common pre-computed `name_hash` values:
### 1.3 Private key on-disk format
The Python serializer writes private-key bytes as `Ed25519_priv(32) || X25519_priv(32)` — Ed25519 first, X25519 second. This is the **opposite** of the public_key concatenation order (`RNS/Identity.py:from_file` and `to_file`). Implementations that store/load identities to disk in a Python-compatible format must respect this.
`RNS.Identity.to_file(path)` writes the raw 64-byte private-key blob with **no header, no version byte, no checksum, no encryption**. The byte order is the **same** as the public_key concatenation in §1.1 — verified by `tools/verify_destination_hash.py`'s existing `Identity.from_bytes` round-trip:
```
prv_bytes_blob = X25519_priv(32) || Ed25519_priv(32) // 64 bytes total
```
`Identity.get_private_key()` at `RNS/Identity.py:694-698` returns this exact concatenation:
```python
def get_private_key(self):
return self.prv_bytes + self.sig_prv_bytes
# ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ X25519 priv (set at line 679 from X25519PrivateKey.generate())
# ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Ed25519 priv (set at line 682)
```
`Identity.load_private_key(prv_bytes)` at line 706-717 slices it back the same way:
```python
self.prv_bytes = prv_bytes[:32] # X25519
self.sig_prv_bytes = prv_bytes[32:] # Ed25519
```
`to_file` is a thin wrapper that writes `get_private_key()` to the path; `from_file` reads back with no extra parsing.
#### File-system facts
- **Size:** exactly 64 bytes. No magic, no length prefix.
- **Encryption:** none. Anyone with read access can fully impersonate the identity.
- **Permissions:** upstream doesn't `chmod` the file; clients are expected to put it in a directory protected by OS permissions (`~/.reticulum/storage` on Linux/macOS, `%APPDATA%/Reticulum/storage` on Windows by default).
- **Filename:** caller-controlled. RNS itself uses `transport_identity` for the transport node and lets app-level callers choose for delivery destinations (LXMF puts these in `LXMF.LXMRouter.storagepath`).
#### Constructing from raw bytes — `from_bytes` HAZARD
`Identity.from_bytes(prv_bytes)` at line 611-623 takes the same 64-byte concat and reconstitutes an `Identity`. The upstream docstring explicitly warns:
> **HAZARD!** Never use this to generate a new key by feeding random data in prv_bytes.
The reason: `X25519PrivateKey.from_private_bytes` and `Ed25519PrivateKey.from_private_bytes` both accept arbitrary 32-byte values without scalar clamping or rejection — a clean-room implementation that feeds raw random data into `from_bytes` skips the keypair-generation invariants enforced by the upstream `cryptography` library's `.generate()` methods (e.g. X25519 scalar clamping per RFC 7748 §5). Always generate fresh keys via the `cryptography` (or equivalent) library's keypair generator, then concatenate; never invent your own bytes.
#### Cross-implementation portability
The format is portable across implementations because there's nothing in it but the raw bytes. A 64-byte file written by Python RNS is byte-identical to one written by any clean-room implementation that follows this section, and both produce the same `identity_hash` and `lxmf.delivery` `destination_hash` when fed back through §1.1 and §1.2 — test vectors at [`test-vectors/identities.json`](test-vectors/identities.json) demonstrate the round-trip against RNS 1.2.0.
> ⚠️ **Spec correction:** Earlier revisions of this section described the on-disk order as Ed25519 first, X25519 second ("opposite of the public_key concatenation"). That was wrong — verified by re-running `Identity.to_file` and reading back the bytes against the test vector at `test-vectors/identities.json`, the actual order is X25519 first, Ed25519 second, identical to the public_key order. Implementations following the prior spec wording would have corrupted identity files when interoperating with upstream Python RNS.
---