tuf.repo.signerlib.check_directory(directory)
The call above performs the following checks:

Does 'directory' have the correct format?

Raise 'tuf.FormatError' if there is a mismatch.

tuf.formats.PATH_SCHEMA.check_match(directory)

directory = os.path.abspath(directory)

from python-tuf.

Unfortunately, that does not fix the problem.

tuf.formats.PATH_SCHEMA simply asserts that the directory is a string.

The rest of tuf.repo.signerlib.check_directory() checks the absolute version of the given directory, but not does check that the given directory was an absolute path in the first place.

Going back to our original example, suppose that the user very well does not know that he is supposed to specify an absolute path for the delegated targets directory. Then signercli.py fails with an error that is only comprehensible after reading its source code.

Does this make sense?

I have a one-line patch I can push to the repository.

from python-tuf.

Ah, you're correct. Line 899 should have been
delegated_targets_directory = tuf.repo.signerlib.check_directory(delegated_targets_directory)

The behavior of this function was modified during unit testing and was not fully updated.
An incorrect version may have also been copied during the move from the hg repository.

from python-tuf.

The line causing the bug was modified to:
delegated_targets_directory = _check_directory(delegated_targets_directory)

The check_directory() function of 'signerlib.py' was also modified to remove traces of its previous behavior.
Ran the unit tests and gave signercli.py a test run. This bug should be fixed now.

Please confirm.
ef53ca6

from python-tuf.

Works, thanks!

from python-tuf.