A single-purpose entity that protects and funds the public infrastructure behind desktop independence. Nothing more.
Developers, institutions, and users pick between Microsoft, Apple, and Linux. Each comes with a tradeoff you might not want to make.
Weave opens a fourth path: an open desktop with a real Windows off-ramp. That matters beyond IronTree. Independent developers, public institutions, refurbishers, and small businesses all need this exit to exist.
Libre Commons exists to protect and fund the shared layers that make that exit possible.
Commons money funds public infrastructure. IronTree money funds product advantage.
If the work benefits any Linux platform, developer, public institution, refurbisher, downstream OS, or user, it belongs in Libre Commons.
If the work creates IronTree-specific leverage, commercial differentiation, or customer delivery, it belongs in IronTree.
- Weave core compatibility infrastructure
- Win32 behavior tests and compatibility gates
- Public app and hardware compatibility data
- Clean-room implementation policy and contributor provenance rules
- Security audits and responsible disclosure coordination
- Open integration specs for Linux-based desktop platforms
- Reproducible build infrastructure for commons projects
- Accessibility and internationalization work
The test: could someone other than IronTree use the output without asking permission?
A standing program that keeps useful conventions of free computing in the public domain, out of patent capture.
When a platform vendor invents a genuinely useful interaction (a gesture, a connector, a repair method) and fences it behind a patent, everyone else is locked out. The Standards Register exists to get there first, openly, and pin the convention to the commons before it can be captured.
- Multi-touch gesture mapping (defensive publication)
- Open Special Key symbol (CC0 + trademark non-assertion covenant)
- Non-locking component authentication (defensive publication)
- Non-gating, owner-sovereign platform attestation (defensive publication + open spec)
- Non-gating consumable authentication (defensive publication)
- Telemetry Nutrition Label (open spec + reference implementation)
- Open removable-battery interface (defensive publication + open spec)
Libre Commons is built in the open:
- Browse the standards in this repository.
- Open an issue if you have a candidate standard, a correction, or a patent search that affects a published disclosure.
- Submit a pull request for contributions to standards documentation.
- Use the output of any standard here. They are public domain or explicitly licensed for unrestricted use.
This repository is the canonical home for all Libre Commons standards and specifications.
What makes desktop independence possible:
- IronTree Software (the accountable product company)
- Weave (the compatibility engine and first major commons candidate)
- More (additional layers coming as the ecosystem grows)
- Libre Commons (the public steward for shared compatibility, validation, security, and standards infrastructure)
The company builds the house. The commons maintains the road that lets everyone get there.
This repository handles the shared infrastructure for desktop independence. All outputs are public. No permission needed.