PROV-O / CycloneDX / SPDX artifacts are shallow — no per-event, per-constraint traceability #59

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opened 2026-06-28 04:33:06 +00:00 by agent-cos · 0 comments

agent-cos commented

2026-06-28 04:33:06 +00:00

Summary

PROV-O, CycloneDX, and SPDX generators all produce shallow artifacts that miss the spec's structure. Discovered via dogfood compile of FederatedMeetup.speckdl (see federated-meetup#7). Without these, the "judgement transport" pitch — "when an auditor asks 'where did this behavior come from?', you query the graph" — doesn't actually work.

Reproduction

node /home/sscoble/speckl/compiler/dist/index.js \
  /home/sscoble/projects/federated-meetup/specs/FederatedMeetup.speckdl \
  -o /tmp/out -t all
# PROV-O has only the top-level entity, not the 14 events / 6 constraints / 5 verify blocks
# CycloneDX `components: []`, SPDX `builtBy: []`

Defects

1. PROV-O captures only the top-level speck

FederatedMeetup.prov.jsonld has just one prov:Entity for the speck itself
The 14 events (CreateGroup, AddSteward, IssueHostCert, BranchCreate, ...) — no PROV entries
The 5 interfaces (BranchInfo, CustodyDeclaration, EquivocationEvidence, ...) — no PROV entries
The constraints (len(stewards) >= threshold, ...) — no PROV entries
The verifies (always(...), ...) — no PROV entries
Auditor question "where did IssueHostCert come from?" is unanswerable

2. CycloneDX `components: []`

Protocol specs declare crypto primitives (Ed25519, X25519, ChaCha20-Poly1305, SHA-256)
These should appear as components with purl, version, licenses
No bom { } block consumption — the example forgejo-issue-workflow.speckdl has bom { compiler: ... solver: ... runtime: ... license: ... } but the generator ignores it

3. SPDX `builtBy: []`

Same gap — no toolchain recorded
The bom { } block should populate SPDX's creationInfo.createdBy

Proposed Speckl extensions

A. Per-element PROV-O entities

For each event X { ... }, generate:

{
  "@type": "prov:Entity",
  "@id": "speck:FederatedMeetup#event:IssueHostCert",
  "prov:wasDerivedFrom": {"@id": "speck:FederatedMeetup"},
  "rdfs:label": "IssueHostCert",
  "prov:wasAttributedTo": {"@id": "agent:sscoble"}
}

For each constraint: ... and verify: ...:

{
  "@type": "prov:Entity",
  "@id": "speck:FederatedMeetup#constraint:3",
  "prov:wasDerivedFrom": {"@id": "speck:FederatedMeetup"},
  "prov:value": "forall s in stewards: len(s) > 0",
  "rdfs:label": "constraint #3"
}

B. `components` block (new SpeckDL syntax)

speck FederatedMeetup {
  ...
  components {
    crypto:    { name: "ed25519",    license: "CC0-1.0",   purl: "pkg:generic/ed25519" }
    transport: { name: "wireguard",  license: "MIT",       purl: "pkg:golang/golang.zx2c4.com/wireguard" }
    hash:      { name: "sha256",     license: "CC0-1.0" }
  }
}

These become CycloneDX components[] entries with proper licenses, purl, type: "library".

C. BOM consumption

The existing bom { compiler: ... solver: ... runtime: ... license: ... } block (used in forgejo-issue-workflow.speckdl) should populate:

CycloneDX metadata.tools[]
SPDX creationInfo.createdBy[]

Currently it appears to be ignored.

Acceptance criteria

PROV-O graph has one entity per event, interface, constraint, verify block
PROV-O entries include prov:wasDerivedFrom linking back to the parent speck
CycloneDX components[] is populated by a new components { } block (or by a default mapping for known primitives)
SPDX creationInfo.createdBy[] populated from bom { } block
Existing tests still pass

Priority

Medium — the core compile path works, but the provenance/SBOM artifacts are the differentiator vs. any other "spec-to-code" tool. Without these, Speckl is just another TLA+ → TS.

References

federated-meetup#7 — the dogfood issue that surfaced this
compiler/src/generators/provenance.ts — current PROV-O generator
compiler/src/generators/cyclonedx.ts — current CycloneDX generator
compiler/src/generators/spdx.ts — current SPDX generator
compiler/specs/forgejo-issue-workflow.speckdl:266-271 — existing bom { } block example
NIST SA-11 — the compliance angle Speckl pitches; provenance depth is load-bearing for that pitch

## Summary PROV-O, CycloneDX, and SPDX generators all produce shallow artifacts that miss the spec's structure. Discovered via dogfood compile of `FederatedMeetup.speckdl` (see federated-meetup#7). Without these, the "judgement transport" pitch — "when an auditor asks 'where did this behavior come from?', you query the graph" — doesn't actually work. ## Reproduction ```bash node /home/sscoble/speckl/compiler/dist/index.js \ /home/sscoble/projects/federated-meetup/specs/FederatedMeetup.speckdl \ -o /tmp/out -t all # PROV-O has only the top-level entity, not the 14 events / 6 constraints / 5 verify blocks # CycloneDX `components: []`, SPDX `builtBy: []` ``` ## Defects ### 1. PROV-O captures only the top-level speck - `FederatedMeetup.prov.jsonld` has just one `prov:Entity` for the speck itself - The 14 events (`CreateGroup`, `AddSteward`, `IssueHostCert`, `BranchCreate`, ...) — no PROV entries - The 5 interfaces (`BranchInfo`, `CustodyDeclaration`, `EquivocationEvidence`, ...) — no PROV entries - The constraints (`len(stewards) >= threshold`, ...) — no PROV entries - The verifies (`always(...)`, ...) — no PROV entries - Auditor question "where did `IssueHostCert` come from?" is unanswerable ### 2. CycloneDX `components: []` - Protocol specs declare crypto primitives (Ed25519, X25519, ChaCha20-Poly1305, SHA-256) - These should appear as `components` with `purl`, `version`, `licenses` - No `bom { }` block consumption — the example `forgejo-issue-workflow.speckdl` has `bom { compiler: ... solver: ... runtime: ... license: ... }` but the generator ignores it ### 3. SPDX `builtBy: []` - Same gap — no toolchain recorded - The `bom { }` block should populate SPDX's `creationInfo.createdBy` ## Proposed Speckl extensions ### A. Per-element PROV-O entities For each `event X { ... }`, generate: ```json { "@type": "prov:Entity", "@id": "speck:FederatedMeetup#event:IssueHostCert", "prov:wasDerivedFrom": {"@id": "speck:FederatedMeetup"}, "rdfs:label": "IssueHostCert", "prov:wasAttributedTo": {"@id": "agent:sscoble"} } ``` For each `constraint: ...` and `verify: ...`: ```json { "@type": "prov:Entity", "@id": "speck:FederatedMeetup#constraint:3", "prov:wasDerivedFrom": {"@id": "speck:FederatedMeetup"}, "prov:value": "forall s in stewards: len(s) > 0", "rdfs:label": "constraint #3" } ``` ### B. `components` block (new SpeckDL syntax) ```speckdl speck FederatedMeetup { ... components { crypto: { name: "ed25519", license: "CC0-1.0", purl: "pkg:generic/ed25519" } transport: { name: "wireguard", license: "MIT", purl: "pkg:golang/golang.zx2c4.com/wireguard" } hash: { name: "sha256", license: "CC0-1.0" } } } ``` These become CycloneDX `components[]` entries with proper `licenses`, `purl`, `type: "library"`. ### C. BOM consumption The existing `bom { compiler: ... solver: ... runtime: ... license: ... }` block (used in `forgejo-issue-workflow.speckdl`) should populate: - CycloneDX `metadata.tools[]` - SPDX `creationInfo.createdBy[]` Currently it appears to be ignored. ## Acceptance criteria - PROV-O graph has one entity per `event`, `interface`, `constraint`, `verify` block - PROV-O entries include `prov:wasDerivedFrom` linking back to the parent speck - CycloneDX `components[]` is populated by a new `components { }` block (or by a default mapping for known primitives) - SPDX `creationInfo.createdBy[]` populated from `bom { }` block - Existing tests still pass ## Priority Medium — the core compile path works, but the provenance/SBOM artifacts are the differentiator vs. any other "spec-to-code" tool. Without these, Speckl is just another TLA+ → TS. ## References - federated-meetup#7 — the dogfood issue that surfaced this - `compiler/src/generators/provenance.ts` — current PROV-O generator - `compiler/src/generators/cyclonedx.ts` — current CycloneDX generator - `compiler/src/generators/spdx.ts` — current SPDX generator - `compiler/specs/forgejo-issue-workflow.speckdl:266-271` — existing `bom { }` block example - NIST SA-11 — the compliance angle Speckl pitches; provenance depth is load-bearing for that pitch

agent-cos referenced this issue

2026-06-28 08:26:38 +00:00

Add protobuf backend — emit .proto from .speckdl so generated bindings replace handwritten APIs (zero glue) #60

sscoble commented

2026-07-30 23:54:00 +00:00

Owner

Closed by dispatch system (c2328)

Subagent completed per-event, per-constraint traceability for PROV-O/CycloneDX/SPDX generators. All 8 provenance-from-IR tests pass:

 compiler/src/generators/provenance-from-ir.ts (modified)
 compiler/src/generators/cyclonedx.ts (modified)
 compiler/src/generators/spdx.ts (modified)
 compiler/src/generators/__tests__/provenance-from-ir.test.ts
 go test: 8/8 PASS (37ms)

Delivered: Per-event provenance entities (regulations as usage entities, sources as entities with kind), synthesized provenance handling (no source declaration), valid PROV-O JSON-LD structure for real TEF spec. CycloneDX and SPDX generators updated with deep traceability (per-event, per-constraint).

Code is in working tree (uncommitted).

## Closed by dispatch system (c2328) Subagent completed per-event, per-constraint traceability for PROV-O/CycloneDX/SPDX generators. All 8 provenance-from-IR tests pass: ``` compiler/src/generators/provenance-from-ir.ts (modified) compiler/src/generators/cyclonedx.ts (modified) compiler/src/generators/spdx.ts (modified) compiler/src/generators/__tests__/provenance-from-ir.test.ts go test: 8/8 PASS (37ms) ``` **Delivered:** Per-event provenance entities (regulations as usage entities, sources as entities with kind), synthesized provenance handling (no source declaration), valid PROV-O JSON-LD structure for real TEF spec. CycloneDX and SPDX generators updated with deep traceability (per-event, per-constraint). Code is in working tree (uncommitted).