[Bug 833945] Re: Allow to install system wide license keys

[Sebastian Heinlein]

Thanks for the summary. Well thought. So packages don't seem to be a
good solution. The technical implementation depends on a social
component: Can you enforce the location of the key/policy to all
vendors? If there is perhaps a proprietary software which insists on a
custom location we need to transfer the path somehow, currently the
preferred way would be a package record/control field. Otherwise we
could just simple hard code the path. It would make sense to store the
key outside of /opt/pkgname to avoid people "uninstalling" software by
"rm -rf" and deleting the key. A possible path could be
/var/lib/licenses/pkgname.

Is there a way to sign the license keys by Launchpad?

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/833945

Title:
  Allow to install system wide license keys

Status in Online service used by software center:
  New
Status in “aptdaemon” package in Ubuntu:
  In Progress

Bug description:
  There is the need to allow sharing software license key by all users
  on the system. So they need to be dropped to an accessible location on
  the system. This bug tracks the discussion and progress of this
  effort.

  From a security point of view we allow a desktop user to "randomly"
  drop files on the system. So we should try to define the dropping area
  and the content of the file as tight as possible.

  Open issues:
  * Can we assume that we can patch or force the shipped software in /opt to use a common place defined by our policy (problem with proprietary software)?
  * If the above question is yes: Can we store the licenses in a central repository e.g. /var/licenses/pkgname.key? Or should we store them in the corresponding /opt/pkgname dir?
  * If the first question is no: Can we still assume that the key has to be stored in the /opt/pkgname dir? E.g. Does a "special" customer insist on uppercase naming which is not allowed as a package name /opt/AcrobatReader?
  * Can we sign the key by Launchpad to make sure to only drop a file which can be sure of to be license key? The signature check needs to be done by aptdaemon
  * We need a trusted way to transfer the location of the key to aptdaemon - current solution would be to store the key path in a package control field (XB-LicenseKeyPath). But we could also append this information to a signed license key, see question above.

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