KDE Utils/ksecretsservice

From KDE Community Wiki
Revision as of 14:48, 13 January 2021 by Pmello (talk | contribs) (Update links to code repository and XDG draft specification)
KSecretsService logo
KSecretsService logo

KSecretsService is a secrets (e.g. passwords and other authentication credentials) management infrastructure aiming to replace KWallet.

All the source code for this infrastructure can be found on KDE Invent.

Project Structure

KSecretsService
Module Description
ksecretsserviced store the secrets in a secure manner
ksecretsservice Public API to be used by KDE applications
secretsync Tool used to synchronize secrets between several devices
kio Let users browse secrets using the ksecrets:// protocol
kwl2kss KWallet to KSecretsService conversion tool

Roadmap

Task Status
Daemon (ksecretsserviced)
ksecrets specific file format storage Clock face Done
testing and bugfixing Clock face In progress
KDE API (ksecretsservice)
support secret creation and retrieving Done
implement signals Checklist document To Do
Secrets Sync Tool (ksecretssync)
Implement syncing protocol Checklist document To Do
Add IMAP support Checklist document To Do
Add SFTP support Checklist document To Do
ksecrets tool
Specify commands to be added Checklist document To Do
Implement these commands Checklist document To Do
kio (used to display secrets in e.g. Dolphin)
Finish it Checklist document To Do
KWallet conversion tool (kwl2kss)
More testing Checklist document To Do

Notes

Originally this project was started as a means of compliance with an XDG Draft Specification for a 'Secret Storage API' that one can find here (version 0.2, released 2011). It calls for a D-Bus daemon providing a means for applications to securely store and retrieve secrets information. Under KDE, this is considered an implementation detail and KDE applications are supposed to use the client API described above. This is of greatest relevance for those users mixing elements of both the KDE and GNOME desktop environments, as the XDG (Cross Desktop Group) specification is also implemented by GNOME Keyring. Prevailing wisdom currently holds that those users should make a choice about the actual daemon they want to make use of and then stick with it, as no migration tool exists (yet) from KSecretsService to GNOME Keyring or vice versa.