Key import/export as PEM (interop with go-ipfs 0.13+)

[Stebalien]

https://github.com/ipfs/interface-js-ipfs-core/blob/v0.103.0/SPEC/KEY.md#keyimport

However, libp2p uses a custom format that may or may not be convertible to PEM.

[DougAnderson444]

I'm interested in seeing this implemented for sure! We should be able to store any key type on the keychain, not just rsa-pem, right?

js-ipfs.key.import comes from keychain.importKey

keychain.importKey calls crypto.keys.import(pem, password) which only processes RSA pem at the moment.

I see crypto.keys.unmarshallPrivateKey(buf) already decodes the key type then returns the key based on type. We just need import to leverage this heavy lifting right?

What we could do is

• rename crypto.keys.import(pem, password) to (privateKey, password)
• crypto.keys.import(privateKey, password) determines which key type is given, based on length
• if there is a password and it's RSA, then decryptRsaPrivateKey as before
• perhaps add a symmetrical password cipher for the other two key types (pbkdf2 + AES?)
• based on which key type, convert string to buf for crypto.keys.unmarshallPrivateKey
• crypto.keys.unmarshallPrivateKey returns the appropriate key bytes, just like import did

Does that seem about right?
Anything I can do to help implement this change?

[DougAnderson444]

Ongoing discussion about this also here libp2p/js-libp2p-crypto#145

[lidel]

Update:

• Support ed25519 and secp256k1 in the import method libp2p/js-libp2p-crypto#145 implemented support for ed25519 using custom proprietary encryption format
  • good for mvp, but had for general interop with anything other than other js-ipfs node
• go-ipfs 0.13+ will support cleartext PEM/PKCS8 key format for improved interop with rest of the planet – see feat(cmds): add cleartext PEM/PKCS8 for key import/export kubo#8616
  • filled Support cleartext PEM key import/export libp2p/js-libp2p-crypto#244 as the first step towards supporting the same in js-ipfs
  • js-ipfs could keep current default, but just like go-ipfs does, allow for opt-in to cleartext PEM for improved interoperability

[tinytb]

backlog grooming: this will be tracked in libp2p/js-libp2p-crypto#244 going forward