feat: migrate ORAS CLI from oras-go v2 to v3

[TerryHowe]

Overview

This issue tracks the full migration of the ORAS CLI from oras.land/oras-go/v2 to github.com/oras-project/oras-go/v3. The migration is broken into three phases:

1. Mechanical API migration — import path and breaking API renames (PR feat: migrate from oras-go v2 to v3 #2002)
2. Deprecation cleanup — remove duplicated internal code now first-class in v3
3. New feature adoption — unlock user-facing capabilities provided by v3

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Motivation

oras-go v3 introduces a new module path, several breaking API renames, and new packages that provide capabilities the ORAS CLI currently either lacks entirely or implements through duplicated custom code. The primary user-facing motivation is support for the standard containers configuration file stack:

containers/image configuration files supported by oras-go v3

Config File	Location	Benefit to ORAS users
containers-auth.json	~/.config/containers/auth.json	Podman/Buildah/Skopeo credentials are read automatically alongside Docker config.json — no --registry-config flag needed
containers-registries.conf	/etc/containers/registries.conf	Registry mirrors, blocked registries, and location remapping are applied automatically on every pull — critical for air-gapped and enterprise deployments
containers-certs.d	/etc/containers/certs.d/<host>/	Per-registry CA certificates and client TLS certs are loaded without --ca-file flags

Beyond the config-file ecosystem, full v3 adoption also:

• Fixes a process-safety bug in the ORAS_CACHE path (oci.New() is not safe for concurrent process writes)
• Removes ~300 lines of duplicated internal code (internal/cache/, internal/trace/transport.go)
• Adds structured error messages for oras cp that distinguish source from destination failures

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Phases & Timeline

Phase 1 — Mechanical API Migration (PR #2002)

Status: open (draft)

Replace all oras.land/oras-go/v2 imports with github.com/oras-project/oras-go/v3 and update all breaking call sites.

Change	Status
Import path oras.land/oras-go/v2 → github.com/oras-project/oras-go/v3	✅ Done
auth.Credential{} → credentials.Credential{}	✅ Done
auth.EmptyCredential → credentials.EmptyCredential	✅ Done
client.Credential = → client.CredentialFunc =	✅ Done
credentials.Credential(store) → store.Get	✅ Done
credentials.Login/Logout → remote.Login/Logout	✅ Done
repo.Client/PlainHTTP/HandleWarning → repo.Registry.*	✅ Done
repo.Reference.Repository → repo.RepositoryName	✅ Done
ref.Reference (field) → ref.GetReference() (method)	✅ Done
SetReferrersCapability() — void, no longer returns error	✅ Done

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Phase 2 — Deprecation Cleanup (follow-on PRs)

Remove internal code that is now first-class in oras-go v3.

#	Task	Files	Net LOC	Notes
2.1	oci.New() → oci.NewStorage() in cache	option/cache.go	−2	Fixes concurrent-write safety bug for shared ORAS_CACHE
2.2	Delete internal/cache/; use oras-go/content/cache	internal/cache/, option/cache.go	−100	Library now ships CacheReadOnlyTarget with correct oci.NewStorage() backing
2.3	Replace custom handleWarning() with remote.NewWarningLogger()	option/remote.go	−25	Requires slog→logrus bridge (~15 lines) since v3 uses *slog.Logger
2.4	Replace internal/trace/transport.go with remote.NewLoggingTransport() via ClientBuilder.Logger	internal/trace/, option/remote.go	−160	Same header scrubbing + body cap; adds request IDs for concurrent correlation

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Phase 3 — New Feature Adoption (follow-on PRs)

3.1 ClientBuilder + properties.Registry in NewRepository()/NewRegistry()

Replace the 40+ line manual assembly of tls.Config → http.Transport → retry.Transport → auth.Client with ClientBuilder, which handles TLS, retry, credentials, user-agent, and debug logging in one place.

3.2 config.LoadConfigs() — Full Ecosystem Config Stack

Use config.LoadConfigs() as the baseline for registry configuration, then override with CLI flags. This is the key change that unlocks the containers config-file ecosystem:

config.LoadConfigs()
  ├── Docker config.json          (credentials)
  ├── containers/auth.json        (Podman/Buildah/Skopeo credentials)
  ├── containers/registries.conf  (mirrors, blocked registries, location rewrites)
  └── containers/certs.d/         (per-registry TLS certificates)

CLI flags continue to take highest priority — no change in behavior for users who specify flags explicitly.

Capabilities unlocked at zero additional CLI surface:

• Podman users: podman login-saved credentials work automatically
• Enterprise/air-gapped: registries.conf mirrors tried on every pull, no config needed
• Operators: per-registry CA certs from certs.d load without --ca-file

Future flags (separate PRs):

• --registries-config — override path to registries.conf
• --policy-file — override path to policy.json

3.3 oras.CopyError Structured Error Handling

Wrap oras.Copy() failures with *oras.CopyError to produce actionable messages distinguishing source from destination failures in oras cp, oras push, oras pull, and oras attach.

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Phase 4 — Future Work (separate design required)

Capability	oras-go Package	Notes
Policy enforcement (--policy-file)	registry/remote/policy	Requires UX design for insecureAcceptAnything / reject / signedBy rules
OpenPGP signature verification	registry/remote/signature	Depends on registries.d config and lookaside store support
objects package for push/pack	objects	Higher-level alternative to PackManifest; consider for oras push simplification

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Implementation Order

#	Task	Unblocked By
1	PR #2002 — mechanical API migration	—
2	oci.New() → oci.NewStorage()	PR #2002
3	Delete internal/cache/	step 2
4	slog→logrus bridge (internal/logutil/)	PR #2002
5	remote.NewWarningLogger()	step 4
6	ClientBuilder in NewRepository()/NewRegistry()	steps 4, 5
7	config.LoadConfigs() full config stack	step 6
8	remote.NewLoggingTransport() via builder.Logger	step 6
9	oras.CopyError structured errors	PR #2002

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References

• PR feat: migrate from oras-go v2 to v3 #2002 — mechanical migration branch
• oras-go v3 migration guide
• oras-go SCENARIOS.md
• containers-auth.json(5)
• containers-registries.conf(5)
• containers-certs.d(5)

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