Re: SHA1 collisions found

[ankostis <ankostis@gmail.com>]

On 24 February 2017 at 16:13, Ian Jackson
<ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>
> Joey Hess writes ("SHA1 collisions found"):
> > https://shattered.io/static/shattered.pdf
> > https://freedom-to-tinker.com/2017/02/23/rip-sha-1/
> >
> > IIRC someone has been working on parameterizing git's SHA1 assumptions
> > so a repository could eventually use a more secure hash. How far has
> > that gotten? There are still many "40" constants in git.git HEAD.
>
> I have been thinking about how to do a transition from SHA1 to another
> hash function.
>
> I have concluded that:
>
>  * We can should avoid expecting everyone to rewrite all their
>    history.
>
>  * Unfortunately, because the data formats (particularly, the commit
>    header) are not in practice extensible (because of the way existing
>    code parses them), it is not useful to try generate new data (new
>    commits etc.) containing both new hashes and old hashes: old
>    clients will mishandle the new data.
>
>  * Therefore the transition needs to be done by giving every object
>    two names (old and new hash function).  Objects may refer to each
>    other by either name, but must pick one.  The usual shape of
>    project histories will be a pile of old commits referring to each
>    other by old names, surmounted by new commits referrring to each
>    other by new names.
>
>  * It is not possible to solve this problem without extending the
>    object name format.  Therefore all software which calls git and
>    expects to handle object names will need to be updated.
>
> I have been writing a more detailed transition plan.  I hope to post
> this within a few days.

It would be great to have a rough plan of the transition to a new hash
function.

We are writing a git-based application to store electronic-files for
legislative purposes for EU.
And one of the great questions we face is about git's SHA-1 validity in 5
or 20 years of time from now.

Is it possible to have an assessment of the situation for this transition?

Best regards for your efforts,
  Kostis