Python-TUF Reaches Version 1.0.0

The Python-TUF community is proud to announce the release of Python-TUF 1.0.0. The release, which is available on PyPI and GitHub, introduces new stable and more ergonomic APIs.

Python-TUF is the reference implementation of The Update Framework specification, an open source framework for securing content delivery and updates. It protects against various types of supply chain attacks and provides resilience to compromise. 

For the past 7 releases the project has introduced new designs and implementations, which have gradually formed two new stable APIs:

• ngclient: A client API that offers a robust internal design providing implementation safety and flexibility to application developers.
• Metadata API: A low-level interface for both consuming and creating TUF metadata. Metadata API is a flexible and easy-to-use building block for any higher level tool or library.

Python-TUF 1.0.0 is the result of a comprehensive rewrite of the project, removing several hard to maintain modules and replacing them with safer and easier to use APIs:

• The project was reduced from 4,700 lines of hard-to-maintain code to 1,400 lines of modern, maintainable code.
• The implementation details are now easier to reason about, which should accelerate future improvements on the project.
• Metadata API provides a solid base to build other tools on top of – as proven by the ngclient implementation and the repository code examples.
• Both new APIs are highly extensible and allow application developers to include custom network stacks, file storage systems or public-key cryptography algorithms, while providing easy-to-use default implementations.

With this foundation laid, Python-TUF developers are currently planning next steps. At the very least, you can expect improved repository side tooling, but we’re also open to new ideas. Pop in to #tuf on CNCF Slack or Github issues and let’s talk.