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authoraszlig <aszlig@redmoonstudios.org>2016-04-15 00:09:23 +0200
committeraszlig <aszlig@redmoonstudios.org>2016-04-15 00:21:49 +0200
commit9ed9e268a2fea24729a5ee09cbecb5f4f7f7605a (patch)
treeaa329b42d1b7aacab037422f98f1895d59394bde /nixos/modules
parent0876c2f4ac96b902285642144bcd4408aa57f511 (diff)
parentc36d6e59647794aa1c4dbb2dcd7e5242d9c5b6b8 (diff)
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Merge pull request #14476 (taskserver)
This adds a Taskserver module along with documentation and a small
helper tool which eases managing a custom CA along with Taskserver
organisations, users and groups.

Taskserver is the server component of Taskwarrior, a TODO list
application for the command line.

The work has been started by @matthiasbeyer back in mid 2015 and I have
continued to work on it recently, so this merge contains commits from
both of us.

Thanks particularly to @nbp and @matthiasbeyer for reviewing and
suggesting improvements.

I've tested this with the new test (nixos/tests/taskserver.nix) this
branch adds and it fails because of the changes introduced by the
closure-size branch, so we need to do additional work on base of this.
Diffstat (limited to 'nixos/modules')
-rw-r--r--nixos/modules/misc/ids.nix2
-rw-r--r--nixos/modules/module-list.nix1
-rw-r--r--nixos/modules/services/misc/taskserver/default.nix541
-rw-r--r--nixos/modules/services/misc/taskserver/doc.xml144
-rw-r--r--nixos/modules/services/misc/taskserver/helper-tool.py673
5 files changed, 1361 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/nixos/modules/misc/ids.nix b/nixos/modules/misc/ids.nix
index c3bade2ee6b9..86332d719495 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/misc/ids.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/misc/ids.nix
@@ -261,6 +261,7 @@
       syncthing = 237;
       mfi = 238;
       caddy = 239;
+      taskd = 240;
 
       # When adding a uid, make sure it doesn't match an existing gid. And don't use uids above 399!
 
@@ -493,6 +494,7 @@
       syncthing = 237;
       #mfi = 238; # unused
       caddy = 239;
+      taskd = 240;
 
       # When adding a gid, make sure it doesn't match an existing
       # uid. Users and groups with the same name should have equal
diff --git a/nixos/modules/module-list.nix b/nixos/modules/module-list.nix
index 5b3d19e0bbaf..6384f8a3d9aa 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/module-list.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/module-list.nix
@@ -250,6 +250,7 @@
   ./services/misc/sundtek.nix
   ./services/misc/svnserve.nix
   ./services/misc/synergy.nix
+  ./services/misc/taskserver
   ./services/misc/uhub.nix
   ./services/misc/zookeeper.nix
   ./services/monitoring/apcupsd.nix
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/misc/taskserver/default.nix b/nixos/modules/services/misc/taskserver/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..0b86b42f2cc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/misc/taskserver/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,541 @@
+{ config, lib, pkgs, ... }:
+
+with lib;
+
+let
+  cfg = config.services.taskserver;
+
+  taskd = "${pkgs.taskserver}/bin/taskd";
+
+  mkVal = val:
+    if val == true then "true"
+    else if val == false then "false"
+    else if isList val then concatStringsSep ", " val
+    else toString val;
+
+  mkConfLine = key: val: let
+    result = "${key} = ${mkVal val}";
+  in optionalString (val != null && val != []) result;
+
+  mkManualPkiOption = desc: mkOption {
+    type = types.nullOr types.path;
+    default = null;
+    description = desc + ''
+      <note><para>
+      Setting this option will prevent automatic CA creation and handling.
+      </para></note>
+    '';
+  };
+
+  manualPkiOptions = {
+    ca.cert = mkManualPkiOption ''
+      Fully qualified path to the CA certificate.
+    '';
+
+    server.cert = mkManualPkiOption ''
+      Fully qualified path to the server certificate.
+    '';
+
+    server.crl = mkManualPkiOption ''
+      Fully qualified path to the server certificate revocation list.
+    '';
+
+    server.key = mkManualPkiOption ''
+      Fully qualified path to the server key.
+    '';
+  };
+
+  mkAutoDesc = preamble: ''
+    ${preamble}
+
+    <note><para>
+    This option is for the automatically handled CA and will be ignored if any
+    of the <option>services.taskserver.pki.manual.*</option> options are set.
+    </para></note>
+  '';
+
+  mkExpireOption = desc: mkOption {
+    type = types.nullOr types.int;
+    default = null;
+    example = 365;
+    apply = val: if isNull val then -1 else val;
+    description = mkAutoDesc ''
+      The expiration time of ${desc} in days or <literal>null</literal> for no
+      expiration time.
+    '';
+  };
+
+  autoPkiOptions = {
+    bits = mkOption {
+      type = types.int;
+      default = 4096;
+      example = 2048;
+      description = mkAutoDesc "The bit size for generated keys.";
+    };
+
+    expiration = {
+      ca = mkExpireOption "the CA certificate";
+      server = mkExpireOption "the server certificate";
+      client = mkExpireOption "client certificates";
+      crl = mkExpireOption "the certificate revocation list (CRL)";
+    };
+  };
+
+  needToCreateCA = let
+    notFound = path: let
+      dotted = concatStringsSep "." path;
+    in throw "Can't find option definitions for path `${dotted}'.";
+    findPkiDefinitions = path: attrs: let
+      mkSublist = key: val: let
+        newPath = path ++ singleton key;
+      in if isOption val
+         then attrByPath newPath (notFound newPath) cfg.pki.manual
+         else findPkiDefinitions newPath val;
+    in flatten (mapAttrsToList mkSublist attrs);
+  in all isNull (findPkiDefinitions [] manualPkiOptions);
+
+  configFile = pkgs.writeText "taskdrc" (''
+    # systemd related
+    daemon = false
+    log = -
+
+    # logging
+    ${mkConfLine "debug" cfg.debug}
+    ${mkConfLine "ip.log" cfg.ipLog}
+
+    # general
+    ${mkConfLine "ciphers" cfg.ciphers}
+    ${mkConfLine "confirmation" cfg.confirmation}
+    ${mkConfLine "extensions" cfg.extensions}
+    ${mkConfLine "queue.size" cfg.queueSize}
+    ${mkConfLine "request.limit" cfg.requestLimit}
+
+    # client
+    ${mkConfLine "client.allow" cfg.allowedClientIDs}
+    ${mkConfLine "client.deny" cfg.disallowedClientIDs}
+
+    # server
+    server = ${cfg.listenHost}:${toString cfg.listenPort}
+    ${mkConfLine "trust" cfg.trust}
+
+    # PKI options
+    ${if needToCreateCA then ''
+      ca.cert = ${cfg.dataDir}/keys/ca.cert
+      server.cert = ${cfg.dataDir}/keys/server.cert
+      server.key = ${cfg.dataDir}/keys/server.key
+      server.crl = ${cfg.dataDir}/keys/server.crl
+    '' else ''
+      ca.cert = ${cfg.pki.ca.cert}
+      server.cert = ${cfg.pki.server.cert}
+      server.key = ${cfg.pki.server.key}
+      server.crl = ${cfg.pki.server.crl}
+    ''}
+  '' + cfg.extraConfig);
+
+  orgOptions = { name, ... }: {
+    options.users = mkOption {
+      type = types.uniq (types.listOf types.str);
+      default = [];
+      example = [ "alice" "bob" ];
+      description = ''
+        A list of user names that belong to the organization.
+      '';
+    };
+
+    options.groups = mkOption {
+      type = types.listOf types.str;
+      default = [];
+      example = [ "workers" "slackers" ];
+      description = ''
+        A list of group names that belong to the organization.
+      '';
+    };
+  };
+
+  mkShellStr = val: "'${replaceStrings ["'"] ["'\\''"] val}'";
+
+  certtool = "${pkgs.gnutls}/bin/certtool";
+
+  nixos-taskserver = pkgs.buildPythonPackage {
+    name = "nixos-taskserver";
+    namePrefix = "";
+
+    src = pkgs.runCommand "nixos-taskserver-src" {} ''
+      mkdir -p "$out"
+      cat "${pkgs.substituteAll {
+        src = ./helper-tool.py;
+        inherit taskd certtool;
+        inherit (cfg) dataDir user group fqdn;
+        certBits = cfg.pki.auto.bits;
+        clientExpiration = cfg.pki.auto.expiration.client;
+        crlExpiration = cfg.pki.auto.expiration.crl;
+      }}" > "$out/main.py"
+      cat > "$out/setup.py" <<EOF
+      from setuptools import setup
+      setup(name="nixos-taskserver",
+            py_modules=["main"],
+            install_requires=["Click"],
+            entry_points="[console_scripts]\\nnixos-taskserver=main:cli")
+      EOF
+    '';
+
+    propagatedBuildInputs = [ pkgs.pythonPackages.click ];
+  };
+
+in {
+  options = {
+    services.taskserver = {
+      enable = mkOption {
+        type = types.bool;
+        default = false;
+        example = true;
+        description = ''
+          Whether to enable the Taskwarrior server.
+
+          More instructions about NixOS in conjuction with Taskserver can be
+          found in the NixOS manual at
+          <olink targetdoc="manual" targetptr="module-taskserver"/>.
+        '';
+      };
+
+      user = mkOption {
+        type = types.str;
+        default = "taskd";
+        description = "User for Taskserver.";
+      };
+
+      group = mkOption {
+        type = types.str;
+        default = "taskd";
+        description = "Group for Taskserver.";
+      };
+
+      dataDir = mkOption {
+        type = types.path;
+        default = "/var/lib/taskserver";
+        description = "Data directory for Taskserver.";
+      };
+
+      ciphers = mkOption {
+        type = types.nullOr (types.separatedString ":");
+        default = null;
+        example = "NORMAL:-VERS-SSL3.0";
+        description = let
+          url = "https://gnutls.org/manual/html_node/Priority-Strings.html";
+        in ''
+          List of GnuTLS ciphers to use. See the GnuTLS documentation about
+          priority strings at <link xlink:href="${url}"/> for full details.
+        '';
+      };
+
+      organisations = mkOption {
+        type = types.attrsOf (types.submodule orgOptions);
+        default = {};
+        example.myShinyOrganisation.users = [ "alice" "bob" ];
+        example.myShinyOrganisation.groups = [ "staff" "outsiders" ];
+        example.yetAnotherOrganisation.users = [ "foo" "bar" ];
+        description = ''
+          An attribute set where the keys name the organisation and the values
+          are a set of lists of <option>users</option> and
+          <option>groups</option>.
+        '';
+      };
+
+      confirmation = mkOption {
+        type = types.bool;
+        default = true;
+        description = ''
+          Determines whether certain commands are confirmed.
+        '';
+      };
+
+      debug = mkOption {
+        type = types.bool;
+        default = false;
+        description = ''
+          Logs debugging information.
+        '';
+      };
+
+      extensions = mkOption {
+        type = types.nullOr types.path;
+        default = null;
+        description = ''
+          Fully qualified path of the Taskserver extension scripts.
+          Currently there are none.
+        '';
+      };
+
+      ipLog = mkOption {
+        type = types.bool;
+        default = false;
+        description = ''
+          Logs the IP addresses of incoming requests.
+        '';
+      };
+
+      queueSize = mkOption {
+        type = types.int;
+        default = 10;
+        description = ''
+          Size of the connection backlog, see <citerefentry>
+            <refentrytitle>listen</refentrytitle>
+            <manvolnum>2</manvolnum>
+          </citerefentry>.
+        '';
+      };
+
+      requestLimit = mkOption {
+        type = types.int;
+        default = 1048576;
+        description = ''
+          Size limit of incoming requests, in bytes.
+        '';
+      };
+
+      allowedClientIDs = mkOption {
+        type = with types; loeOf (either (enum ["all" "none"]) str);
+        default = [];
+        example = [ "[Tt]ask [2-9]+" ];
+        description = ''
+          A list of regular expressions that are matched against the reported
+          client id (such as <literal>task 2.3.0</literal>).
+
+          The values <literal>all</literal> or <literal>none</literal> have
+          special meaning. Overidden by any entry in the option
+          <option>services.taskserver.disallowedClientIDs</option>.
+        '';
+      };
+
+      disallowedClientIDs = mkOption {
+        type = with types; loeOf (either (enum ["all" "none"]) str);
+        default = [];
+        example = [ "[Tt]ask [2-9]+" ];
+        description = ''
+          A list of regular expressions that are matched against the reported
+          client id (such as <literal>task 2.3.0</literal>).
+
+          The values <literal>all</literal> or <literal>none</literal> have
+          special meaning. Any entry here overrides those in
+          <option>services.taskserver.allowedClientIDs</option>.
+        '';
+      };
+
+      listenHost = mkOption {
+        type = types.str;
+        default = "localhost";
+        example = "::";
+        description = ''
+          The address (IPv4, IPv6 or DNS) to listen on.
+
+          If the value is something else than <literal>localhost</literal> the
+          port defined by <option>listenPort</option> is automatically added to
+          <option>networking.firewall.allowedTCPPorts</option>.
+        '';
+      };
+
+      listenPort = mkOption {
+        type = types.int;
+        default = 53589;
+        description = ''
+          Port number of the Taskserver.
+        '';
+      };
+
+      fqdn = mkOption {
+        type = types.str;
+        default = "localhost";
+        description = ''
+          The fully qualified domain name of this server, which is also used
+          as the common name in the certificates.
+        '';
+      };
+
+      trust = mkOption {
+        type = types.enum [ "allow all" "strict" ];
+        default = "strict";
+        description = ''
+          Determines how client certificates are validated.
+
+          The value <literal>allow all</literal> performs no client
+          certificate validation. This is not recommended. The value
+          <literal>strict</literal> causes the client certificate to be
+          validated against a CA.
+        '';
+      };
+
+      pki.manual = manualPkiOptions;
+      pki.auto = autoPkiOptions;
+
+      extraConfig = mkOption {
+        type = types.lines;
+        default = "";
+        example = "client.cert = /tmp/debugging.cert";
+        description = ''
+          Extra lines to append to the taskdrc configuration file.
+        '';
+      };
+    };
+  };
+
+  config = mkMerge [
+    (mkIf cfg.enable {
+      environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.taskserver nixos-taskserver ];
+
+      users.users = optional (cfg.user == "taskd") {
+        name = "taskd";
+        uid = config.ids.uids.taskd;
+        description = "Taskserver user";
+        group = cfg.group;
+      };
+
+      users.groups = optional (cfg.group == "taskd") {
+        name = "taskd";
+        gid = config.ids.gids.taskd;
+      };
+
+      systemd.services.taskserver-init = {
+        wantedBy = [ "taskserver.service" ];
+        before = [ "taskserver.service" ];
+        description = "Initialize Taskserver Data Directory";
+
+        preStart = ''
+          mkdir -m 0770 -p "${cfg.dataDir}"
+          chown "${cfg.user}:${cfg.group}" "${cfg.dataDir}"
+        '';
+
+        script = ''
+          ${taskd} init
+          echo "include ${configFile}" > "${cfg.dataDir}/config"
+          touch "${cfg.dataDir}/.is_initialized"
+        '';
+
+        environment.TASKDDATA = cfg.dataDir;
+
+        unitConfig.ConditionPathExists = "!${cfg.dataDir}/.is_initialized";
+
+        serviceConfig.Type = "oneshot";
+        serviceConfig.User = cfg.user;
+        serviceConfig.Group = cfg.group;
+        serviceConfig.PermissionsStartOnly = true;
+        serviceConfig.PrivateNetwork = true;
+        serviceConfig.PrivateDevices = true;
+        serviceConfig.PrivateTmp = true;
+      };
+
+      systemd.services.taskserver = {
+        description = "Taskwarrior Server";
+
+        wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
+        after = [ "network.target" ];
+
+        environment.TASKDDATA = cfg.dataDir;
+
+        preStart = let
+          jsonOrgs = builtins.toJSON cfg.organisations;
+          jsonFile = pkgs.writeText "orgs.json" jsonOrgs;
+          helperTool = "${nixos-taskserver}/bin/nixos-taskserver";
+        in "${helperTool} process-json '${jsonFile}'";
+
+        serviceConfig = {
+          ExecStart = "@${taskd} taskd server";
+          ExecReload = "${pkgs.coreutils}/bin/kill -USR1 $MAINPID";
+          Restart = "on-failure";
+          PermissionsStartOnly = true;
+          PrivateTmp = true;
+          PrivateDevices = true;
+          User = cfg.user;
+          Group = cfg.group;
+        };
+      };
+    })
+    (mkIf needToCreateCA {
+      systemd.services.taskserver-ca = {
+        wantedBy = [ "taskserver.service" ];
+        after = [ "taskserver-init.service" ];
+        before = [ "taskserver.service" ];
+        description = "Initialize CA for TaskServer";
+        serviceConfig.Type = "oneshot";
+        serviceConfig.UMask = "0077";
+        serviceConfig.PrivateNetwork = true;
+        serviceConfig.PrivateTmp = true;
+
+        script = ''
+          silent_certtool() {
+            if ! output="$("${certtool}" "$@" 2>&1)"; then
+              echo "GNUTLS certtool invocation failed with output:" >&2
+              echo "$output" >&2
+            fi
+          }
+
+          mkdir -m 0700 -p "${cfg.dataDir}/keys"
+          chown root:root "${cfg.dataDir}/keys"
+
+          if [ ! -e "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/ca.key" ]; then
+            silent_certtool -p \
+              --bits ${toString cfg.pki.auto.bits} \
+              --outfile "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/ca.key"
+            silent_certtool -s \
+              --template "${pkgs.writeText "taskserver-ca.template" ''
+                cn = ${cfg.fqdn}
+                expiration_days = ${toString cfg.pki.auto.expiration.ca}
+                cert_signing_key
+                ca
+              ''}" \
+              --load-privkey "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/ca.key" \
+              --outfile "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/ca.cert"
+
+            chgrp "${cfg.group}" "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/ca.cert"
+            chmod g+r "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/ca.cert"
+          fi
+
+          if [ ! -e "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/server.key" ]; then
+            silent_certtool -p \
+              --bits ${toString cfg.pki.auto.bits} \
+              --outfile "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/server.key"
+
+            silent_certtool -c \
+              --template "${pkgs.writeText "taskserver-cert.template" ''
+                cn = ${cfg.fqdn}
+                expiration_days = ${toString cfg.pki.auto.expiration.server}
+                tls_www_server
+                encryption_key
+                signing_key
+              ''}" \
+              --load-ca-privkey "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/ca.key" \
+              --load-ca-certificate "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/ca.cert" \
+              --load-privkey "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/server.key" \
+              --outfile "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/server.cert"
+
+            chgrp "${cfg.group}" \
+              "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/server.key" \
+              "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/server.cert"
+
+            chmod g+r \
+              "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/server.key" \
+              "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/server.cert"
+          fi
+
+          if [ ! -e "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/server.crl" ]; then
+            silent_certtool --generate-crl \
+              --template "${pkgs.writeText "taskserver-crl.template" ''
+                expiration_days = ${toString cfg.pki.auto.expiration.crl}
+              ''}" \
+              --load-ca-privkey "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/ca.key" \
+              --load-ca-certificate "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/ca.cert" \
+              --outfile "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/server.crl"
+
+            chgrp "${cfg.group}" "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/server.crl"
+            chmod g+r "${cfg.dataDir}/keys/server.crl"
+          fi
+
+          chmod go+x "${cfg.dataDir}/keys"
+        '';
+      };
+    })
+    (mkIf (cfg.listenHost != "localhost") {
+      networking.firewall.allowedTCPPorts = [ cfg.listenPort ];
+    })
+    { meta.doc = ./taskserver.xml; }
+  ];
+}
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/misc/taskserver/doc.xml b/nixos/modules/services/misc/taskserver/doc.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..48591129264a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/misc/taskserver/doc.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,144 @@
+<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+    xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+    version="5.0"
+    xml:id="module-taskserver">
+
+  <title>Taskserver</title>
+
+  <para>
+    Taskserver is the server component of
+    <link xlink:href="https://taskwarrior.org/">Taskwarrior</link>, a free and
+    open source todo list application.
+  </para>
+
+  <para>
+    <emphasis>Upstream documentation:</emphasis>
+    <link xlink:href="https://taskwarrior.org/docs/#taskd"/>
+  </para>
+
+  <section>
+    <title>Configuration</title>
+
+    <para>
+      Taskserver does all of its authentication via TLS using client
+      certificates, so you either need to roll your own CA or purchase a
+      certificate from a known CA, which allows creation of client
+      certificates.
+
+      These certificates are usually advertised as
+      <quote>server certificates</quote>.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      So in order to make it easier to handle your own CA, there is a helper
+      tool called <command>nixos-taskserver</command> which manages the custom
+      CA along with Taskserver organisations, users and groups.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      While the client certificates in Taskserver only authenticate whether a
+      user is allowed to connect, every user has its own UUID which identifies
+      it as an entity.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      With <command>nixos-taskserver</command> the client certificate is created
+      along with the UUID of the user, so it handles all of the credentials
+      needed in order to setup the Taskwarrior client to work with a Taskserver.
+    </para>
+  </section>
+
+  <section>
+    <title>The nixos-taskserver tool</title>
+
+    <para>
+      Because Taskserver by default only provides scripts to setup users
+      imperatively, the <command>nixos-taskserver</command> tool is used for
+      addition and deletion of organisations along with users and groups defined
+      by <option>services.taskserver.organisations</option> and as well for
+      imperative set up.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      The tool is designed to not interfere if the command is used to manually
+      set up some organisations, users or groups.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      For example if you add a new organisation using
+      <command>nixos-taskserver org add foo</command>, the organisation is not
+      modified and deleted no matter what you define in
+      <option>services.taskserver.organisations</option>, even if you're adding
+      the same organisation in that option.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      The tool is modelled to imitate the official <command>taskd</command>
+      command, documentation for each subcommand can be shown by using the
+      <option>--help</option> switch.
+    </para>
+  </section>
+  <section>
+    <title>Declarative/automatic CA management</title>
+
+    <para>
+      Everything is done according to what you specify in the module options,
+      however in order to set up a Taskwarrior client for synchronisation with a
+      Taskserver instance, you have to transfer the keys and certificates to the
+      client machine.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      This is done using
+      <command>nixos-taskserver user export $orgname $username</command> which
+      is printing a shell script fragment to stdout which can either be used
+      verbatim or adjusted to import the user on the client machine.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      For example, let's say you have the following configuration:
+<screen>
+{
+  services.taskserver.enable = true;
+  services.taskserver.fqdn = "server";
+  services.taskserver.listenHost = "::";
+  services.taskserver.organisations.my-company.users = [ "alice" ];
+}
+</screen>
+      This creates an organisation called <literal>my-company</literal> with the
+      user <literal>alice</literal>.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      Now in order to import the <literal>alice</literal> user to another
+      machine <literal>alicebox</literal>, all we need to do is something like
+      this:
+<screen>
+$ ssh server nixos-taskserver user export my-company alice | sh
+</screen>
+      Of course, if no SSH daemon is available on the server you can also copy
+      &amp; paste it directly into a shell.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      After this step the user should be set up and you can start synchronising
+      your tasks for the first time with <command>task sync init</command> on
+      <literal>alicebox</literal>.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      Subsequent synchronisation requests merely require the command
+      <command>task sync</command> after that stage.
+    </para>
+  </section>
+  <section>
+    <title>Manual CA management</title>
+
+    <para>
+      If you set any options within
+      <option>service.taskserver.pki.manual.*</option>, the automatic user and
+      CA management by the <command>nixos-taskserver</command> is disabled and
+      you need to create certificates and keys by yourself.
+    </para>
+  </section>
+</chapter>
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/misc/taskserver/helper-tool.py b/nixos/modules/services/misc/taskserver/helper-tool.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..03e7cdf8987a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/misc/taskserver/helper-tool.py
@@ -0,0 +1,673 @@
+import grp
+import json
+import pwd
+import os
+import re
+import string
+import subprocess
+import sys
+
+from contextlib import contextmanager
+from shutil import rmtree
+from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile
+
+import click
+
+CERTTOOL_COMMAND = "@certtool@"
+CERT_BITS = "@certBits@"
+CLIENT_EXPIRATION = "@clientExpiration@"
+CRL_EXPIRATION = "@crlExpiration@"
+
+TASKD_COMMAND = "@taskd@"
+TASKD_DATA_DIR = "@dataDir@"
+TASKD_USER = "@user@"
+TASKD_GROUP = "@group@"
+FQDN = "@fqdn@"
+
+CA_KEY = os.path.join(TASKD_DATA_DIR, "keys", "ca.key")
+CA_CERT = os.path.join(TASKD_DATA_DIR, "keys", "ca.cert")
+CRL_FILE = os.path.join(TASKD_DATA_DIR, "keys", "server.crl")
+
+RE_CONFIGUSER = re.compile(r'^\s*user\s*=(.*)$')
+RE_USERKEY = re.compile(r'New user key: (.+)$', re.MULTILINE)
+
+
+def lazyprop(fun):
+    """
+    Decorator which only evaluates the specified function when accessed.
+    """
+    name = '_lazy_' + fun.__name__
+
+    @property
+    def _lazy(self):
+        val = getattr(self, name, None)
+        if val is None:
+            val = fun(self)
+            setattr(self, name, val)
+        return val
+
+    return _lazy
+
+
+class TaskdError(OSError):
+    pass
+
+
+def run_as_taskd_user():
+    uid = pwd.getpwnam(TASKD_USER).pw_uid
+    gid = grp.getgrnam(TASKD_GROUP).gr_gid
+    os.setgid(gid)
+    os.setuid(uid)
+
+
+def taskd_cmd(cmd, *args, **kwargs):
+    """
+    Invoke taskd with the specified command with the privileges of the 'taskd'
+    user and 'taskd' group.
+
+    If 'capture_stdout' is passed as a keyword argument with the value True,
+    the return value are the contents the command printed to stdout.
+    """
+    capture_stdout = kwargs.pop("capture_stdout", False)
+    fun = subprocess.check_output if capture_stdout else subprocess.check_call
+    return fun(
+        [TASKD_COMMAND, cmd, "--data", TASKD_DATA_DIR] + list(args),
+        preexec_fn=run_as_taskd_user,
+        **kwargs
+    )
+
+
+def certtool_cmd(*args, **kwargs):
+    """
+    Invoke certtool from GNUTLS and return the output of the command.
+
+    The provided arguments are added to the certtool command and keyword
+    arguments are added to subprocess.check_output().
+
+    Note that this will suppress all output of certtool and it will only be
+    printed whenever there is an unsuccessful return code.
+    """
+    return subprocess.check_output(
+        [CERTTOOL_COMMAND] + list(args),
+        preexec_fn=lambda: os.umask(0077),
+        stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,
+        **kwargs
+    )
+
+
+def label(msg):
+    if sys.stdout.isatty() or sys.stderr.isatty():
+        sys.stderr.write(msg + "\n")
+
+
+def mkpath(*args):
+    return os.path.join(TASKD_DATA_DIR, "orgs", *args)
+
+
+def mark_imperative(*path):
+    """
+    Mark the specified path as being imperatively managed by creating an empty
+    file called ".imperative", so that it doesn't interfere with the
+    declarative configuration.
+    """
+    open(os.path.join(mkpath(*path), ".imperative"), 'a').close()
+
+
+def is_imperative(*path):
+    """
+    Check whether the given path is marked as imperative, see mark_imperative()
+    for more information.
+    """
+    full_path = []
+    for component in path:
+        full_path.append(component)
+        if os.path.exists(os.path.join(mkpath(*full_path), ".imperative")):
+            return True
+    return False
+
+
+def fetch_username(org, key):
+    for line in open(mkpath(org, "users", key, "config"), "r"):
+        match = RE_CONFIGUSER.match(line)
+        if match is None:
+            continue
+        return match.group(1).strip()
+    return None
+
+
+@contextmanager
+def create_template(contents):
+    """
+    Generate a temporary file with the specified contents as a list of strings
+    and yield its path as the context.
+    """
+    template = NamedTemporaryFile(mode="w", prefix="certtool-template")
+    template.writelines(map(lambda l: l + "\n", contents))
+    template.flush()
+    yield template.name
+    template.close()
+
+
+def generate_key(org, user):
+    basedir = os.path.join(TASKD_DATA_DIR, "keys", org, user)
+    if os.path.exists(basedir):
+        raise OSError("Keyfile directory for {} already exists.".format(user))
+
+    privkey = os.path.join(basedir, "private.key")
+    pubcert = os.path.join(basedir, "public.cert")
+
+    try:
+        os.makedirs(basedir, mode=0700)
+
+        certtool_cmd("-p", "--bits", CERT_BITS, "--outfile", privkey)
+
+        template_data = [
+            "organization = {0}".format(org),
+            "cn = {}".format(FQDN),
+            "expiration_days = {}".format(CLIENT_EXPIRATION),
+            "tls_www_client",
+            "encryption_key",
+            "signing_key"
+        ]
+
+        with create_template(template_data) as template:
+            certtool_cmd(
+                "-c",
+                "--load-privkey", privkey,
+                "--load-ca-privkey", CA_KEY,
+                "--load-ca-certificate", CA_CERT,
+                "--template", template,
+                "--outfile", pubcert
+            )
+    except:
+        rmtree(basedir)
+        raise
+
+
+def revoke_key(org, user):
+    basedir = os.path.join(TASKD_DATA_DIR, "keys", org, user)
+    if not os.path.exists(basedir):
+        raise OSError("Keyfile directory for {} doesn't exist.".format(user))
+
+    pubcert = os.path.join(basedir, "public.cert")
+
+    expiration = "expiration_days = {}".format(CRL_EXPIRATION)
+
+    with create_template([expiration]) as template:
+        oldcrl = NamedTemporaryFile(mode="wb", prefix="old-crl")
+        oldcrl.write(open(CRL_FILE, "rb").read())
+        oldcrl.flush()
+        certtool_cmd(
+            "--generate-crl",
+            "--load-crl", oldcrl.name,
+            "--load-ca-privkey", CA_KEY,
+            "--load-ca-certificate", CA_CERT,
+            "--load-certificate", pubcert,
+            "--template", template,
+            "--outfile", CRL_FILE
+        )
+        oldcrl.close()
+    rmtree(basedir)
+
+
+def is_key_line(line, match):
+    return line.startswith("---") and line.lstrip("- ").startswith(match)
+
+
+def getkey(*args):
+    path = os.path.join(TASKD_DATA_DIR, "keys", *args)
+    buf = []
+    for line in open(path, "r"):
+        if len(buf) == 0:
+            if is_key_line(line, "BEGIN"):
+                buf.append(line)
+            continue
+
+        buf.append(line)
+
+        if is_key_line(line, "END"):
+            return ''.join(buf)
+    raise IOError("Unable to get key from {}.".format(path))
+
+
+def mktaskkey(cfg, path, keydata):
+    heredoc = 'cat > "{}" <<EOF\n{}EOF'.format(path, keydata)
+    cmd = 'task config taskd.{} -- "{}"'.format(cfg, path)
+    return heredoc + "\n" + cmd
+
+
+class User(object):
+    def __init__(self, org, name, key):
+        self.__org = org
+        self.name = name
+        self.key = key
+
+    def export(self):
+        pubcert = getkey(self.__org, self.name, "public.cert")
+        privkey = getkey(self.__org, self.name, "private.key")
+        cacert = getkey("ca.cert")
+
+        keydir = "${TASKDATA:-$HOME/.task}/keys"
+
+        credentials = '/'.join([self.__org, self.name, self.key])
+        allow_unquoted = string.ascii_letters + string.digits + "/-_."
+        if not all((c in allow_unquoted) for c in credentials):
+            credentials = "'" + credentials.replace("'", r"'\''") + "'"
+
+        script = [
+            "umask 0077",
+            'mkdir -p "{}"'.format(keydir),
+            mktaskkey("certificate", os.path.join(keydir, "public.cert"),
+                      pubcert),
+            mktaskkey("key", os.path.join(keydir, "private.key"), privkey),
+            mktaskkey("ca", os.path.join(keydir, "ca.cert"), cacert),
+            "task config taskd.credentials -- {}".format(credentials)
+        ]
+
+        return "\n".join(script) + "\n"
+
+
+class Group(object):
+    def __init__(self, org, name):
+        self.__org = org
+        self.name = name
+
+
+class Organisation(object):
+    def __init__(self, name, ignore_imperative):
+        self.name = name
+        self.ignore_imperative = ignore_imperative
+
+    def add_user(self, name):
+        """
+        Create a new user along with a certificate and key.
+
+        Returns a 'User' object or None if the user already exists.
+        """
+        if self.ignore_imperative and is_imperative(self.name):
+            return None
+        if name not in self.users.keys():
+            output = taskd_cmd("add", "user", self.name, name,
+                               capture_stdout=True)
+            key = RE_USERKEY.search(output)
+            if key is None:
+                msg = "Unable to find key while creating user {}."
+                raise TaskdError(msg.format(name))
+
+            generate_key(self.name, name)
+            newuser = User(self.name, name, key.group(1))
+            self._lazy_users[name] = newuser
+            return newuser
+        return None
+
+    def del_user(self, name):
+        """
+        Delete a user and revoke its keys.
+        """
+        if name in self.users.keys():
+            user = self.get_user(name)
+            if self.ignore_imperative and \
+               is_imperative(self.name, "users", user.key):
+                return
+
+            # Work around https://bug.tasktools.org/browse/TD-40:
+            rmtree(mkpath(self.name, "users", user.key))
+
+            revoke_key(self.name, name)
+            del self._lazy_users[name]
+
+    def add_group(self, name):
+        """
+        Create a new group.
+
+        Returns a 'Group' object or None if the group already exists.
+        """
+        if self.ignore_imperative and is_imperative(self.name):
+            return None
+        if name not in self.groups.keys():
+            taskd_cmd("add", "group", self.name, name)
+            newgroup = Group(self.name, name)
+            self._lazy_groups[name] = newgroup
+            return newgroup
+        return None
+
+    def del_group(self, name):
+        """
+        Delete a group.
+        """
+        if name in self.users.keys():
+            if self.ignore_imperative and \
+               is_imperative(self.name, "groups", name):
+                return
+            taskd_cmd("remove", "group", self.name, name)
+            del self._lazy_groups[name]
+
+    def get_user(self, name):
+        return self.users.get(name)
+
+    @lazyprop
+    def users(self):
+        result = {}
+        for key in os.listdir(mkpath(self.name, "users")):
+            user = fetch_username(self.name, key)
+            if user is not None:
+                result[user] = User(self.name, user, key)
+        return result
+
+    def get_group(self, name):
+        return self.groups.get(name)
+
+    @lazyprop
+    def groups(self):
+        result = {}
+        for group in os.listdir(mkpath(self.name, "groups")):
+            result[group] = Group(self.name, group)
+        return result
+
+
+class Manager(object):
+    def __init__(self, ignore_imperative=False):
+        """
+        Instantiates an organisations manager.
+
+        If ignore_imperative is True, all actions that modify data are checked
+        whether they're created imperatively and if so, they will result in no
+        operation.
+        """
+        self.ignore_imperative = ignore_imperative
+
+    def add_org(self, name):
+        """
+        Create a new organisation.
+
+        Returns an 'Organisation' object or None if the organisation already
+        exists.
+        """
+        if name not in self.orgs.keys():
+            taskd_cmd("add", "org", name)
+            neworg = Organisation(name, self.ignore_imperative)
+            self._lazy_orgs[name] = neworg
+            return neworg
+        return None
+
+    def del_org(self, name):
+        """
+        Delete and revoke keys of an organisation with all its users and
+        groups.
+        """
+        org = self.get_org(name)
+        if org is not None:
+            if self.ignore_imperative and is_imperative(name):
+                return
+            for user in org.users.keys():
+                org.del_user(user)
+            for group in org.groups.keys():
+                org.del_group(group)
+            taskd_cmd("remove", "org", name)
+            del self._lazy_orgs[name]
+
+    def get_org(self, name):
+        return self.orgs.get(name)
+
+    @lazyprop
+    def orgs(self):
+        result = {}
+        for org in os.listdir(mkpath()):
+            result[org] = Organisation(org, self.ignore_imperative)
+        return result
+
+
+class OrganisationType(click.ParamType):
+    name = 'organisation'
+
+    def convert(self, value, param, ctx):
+        org = Manager().get_org(value)
+        if org is None:
+            self.fail("Organisation {} does not exist.".format(value))
+        return org
+
+ORGANISATION = OrganisationType()
+
+
+@click.group()
+@click.pass_context
+def cli(ctx):
+    """
+    Manage Taskserver users and certificates
+    """
+    for path in (CA_KEY, CA_CERT, CRL_FILE):
+        if not os.path.exists(path):
+            msg = "CA setup not done or incomplete, missing file {}."
+            ctx.fail(msg.format(path))
+
+
+@cli.group("org")
+def org_cli():
+    """
+    Manage organisations
+    """
+    pass
+
+
+@cli.group("user")
+def user_cli():
+    """
+    Manage users
+    """
+    pass
+
+
+@cli.group("group")
+def group_cli():
+    """
+    Manage groups
+    """
+    pass
+
+
+@user_cli.command("list")
+@click.argument("organisation", type=ORGANISATION)
+def list_users(organisation):
+    """
+    List all users belonging to the specified organisation.
+    """
+    label("The following users exists for {}:".format(organisation.name))
+    for user in organisation.users.values():
+        sys.stdout.write(user.name + "\n")
+
+
+@group_cli.command("list")
+@click.argument("organisation", type=ORGANISATION)
+def list_groups(organisation):
+    """
+    List all users belonging to the specified organisation.
+    """
+    label("The following users exists for {}:".format(organisation.name))
+    for group in organisation.groups.values():
+        sys.stdout.write(group.name + "\n")
+
+
+@org_cli.command("list")
+def list_orgs():
+    """
+    List available organisations
+    """
+    label("The following organisations exist:")
+    for org in Manager().orgs:
+        sys.stdout.write(org.name + "\n")
+
+
+@user_cli.command("getkey")
+@click.argument("organisation", type=ORGANISATION)
+@click.argument("user")
+def get_uuid(organisation, user):
+    """
+    Get the UUID of the specified user belonging to the specified organisation.
+    """
+    userobj = organisation.get_user(user)
+    if userobj is None:
+        msg = "User {} doesn't exist in organisation {}."
+        sys.exit(msg.format(userobj.name, organisation.name))
+
+    label("User {} has the following UUID:".format(userobj.name))
+    sys.stdout.write(user.key + "\n")
+
+
+@user_cli.command("export")
+@click.argument("organisation", type=ORGANISATION)
+@click.argument("user")
+def export_user(organisation, user):
+    """
+    Export user of the specified organisation as a series of shell commands
+    that can be used on the client side to easily import the certificates.
+
+    Note that the private key will be exported as well, so use this with care!
+    """
+    userobj = organisation.get_user(user)
+    if userobj is None:
+        msg = "User {} doesn't exist in organisation {}."
+        sys.exit(msg.format(userobj.name, organisation.name))
+
+    sys.stdout.write(userobj.export())
+
+
+@org_cli.command("add")
+@click.argument("name")
+def add_org(name):
+    """
+    Create an organisation with the specified name.
+    """
+    if os.path.exists(mkpath(name)):
+        msg = "Organisation with name {} already exists."
+        sys.exit(msg.format(name))
+
+    taskd_cmd("add", "org", name)
+    mark_imperative(name)
+
+
+@org_cli.command("remove")
+@click.argument("name")
+def del_org(name):
+    """
+    Delete the organisation with the specified name.
+
+    All of the users and groups will be deleted as well and client certificates
+    will be revoked.
+    """
+    Manager().del_org(name)
+    msg = ("Organisation {} deleted. Be sure to restart the Taskserver"
+           " using 'systemctl restart taskserver.service' in order for"
+           " the certificate revocation to apply.")
+    click.echo(msg.format(name), err=True)
+
+
+@user_cli.command("add")
+@click.argument("organisation", type=ORGANISATION)
+@click.argument("user")
+def add_user(organisation, user):
+    """
+    Create a user for the given organisation along with a client certificate
+    and print the key of the new user.
+
+    The client certificate along with it's public key can be shown via the
+    'user export' subcommand.
+    """
+    userobj = organisation.add_user(user)
+    if userobj is None:
+        msg = "User {} already exists in organisation {}."
+        sys.exit(msg.format(user, organisation))
+    else:
+        mark_imperative(organisation.name, "users", userobj.key)
+
+
+@user_cli.command("remove")
+@click.argument("organisation", type=ORGANISATION)
+@click.argument("user")
+def del_user(organisation, user):
+    """
+    Delete a user from the given organisation.
+
+    This will also revoke the client certificate of the given user.
+    """
+    organisation.del_user(user)
+    msg = ("User {} deleted. Be sure to restart the Taskserver using"
+           " 'systemctl restart taskserver.service' in order for the"
+           " certificate revocation to apply.")
+    click.echo(msg.format(user), err=True)
+
+
+@group_cli.command("add")
+@click.argument("organisation", type=ORGANISATION)
+@click.argument("group")
+def add_group(organisation, group):
+    """
+    Create a group for the given organisation.
+    """
+    groupobj = organisation.add_group(group)
+    if groupobj is None:
+        msg = "Group {} already exists in organisation {}."
+        sys.exit(msg.format(group, organisation))
+    else:
+        mark_imperative(organisation.name, "groups", groupobj.name)
+
+
+@group_cli.command("remove")
+@click.argument("organisation", type=ORGANISATION)
+@click.argument("group")
+def del_group(organisation, group):
+    """
+    Delete a group from the given organisation.
+    """
+    organisation.del_group(group)
+    click("Group {} deleted.".format(group), err=True)
+
+
+def add_or_delete(old, new, add_fun, del_fun):
+    """
+    Given an 'old' and 'new' list, figure out the intersections and invoke
+    'add_fun' against every element that is not in the 'old' list and 'del_fun'
+    against every element that is not in the 'new' list.
+
+    Returns a tuple where the first element is the list of elements that were
+    added and the second element consisting of elements that were deleted.
+    """
+    old_set = set(old)
+    new_set = set(new)
+    to_delete = old_set - new_set
+    to_add = new_set - old_set
+    for elem in to_delete:
+        del_fun(elem)
+    for elem in to_add:
+        add_fun(elem)
+    return to_add, to_delete
+
+
+@cli.command("process-json")
+@click.argument('json-file', type=click.File('rb'))
+def process_json(json_file):
+    """
+    Create and delete users, groups and organisations based on a JSON file.
+
+    The structure of this file is exactly the same as the
+    'services.taskserver.organisations' option of the NixOS module and is used
+    for declaratively adding and deleting users.
+
+    Hence this subcommand is not recommended outside of the scope of the NixOS
+    module.
+    """
+    data = json.load(json_file)
+
+    mgr = Manager(ignore_imperative=True)
+    add_or_delete(mgr.orgs.keys(), data.keys(), mgr.add_org, mgr.del_org)
+
+    for org in mgr.orgs.values():
+        if is_imperative(org.name):
+            continue
+        add_or_delete(org.users.keys(), data[org.name]['users'],
+                      org.add_user, org.del_user)
+        add_or_delete(org.groups.keys(), data[org.name]['groups'],
+                      org.add_group, org.del_group)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    cli()