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docs(governance): adopt LF Projects policies and Community Specification structure - #127

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docs(governance): adopt LF Projects policies and Community Specification structure#127
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Brings GOVERNANCE.md into the shape the Linux Foundation requires to host TRACE Specification as a Series of LF Projects, LLC. Implements the formation guidance from Jory Burson (LF VP of Standards), 7 Aug 2026.

Sources used: the LF formation instructions document (§ "General Project Policies") and CommunitySpecification/Community_Specification 05-governance.md.

Required by LF

The General Project Policies block is inserted verbatim at the top of GOVERNANCE.md, unedited.

Community Specification sections

The three sections LF named, with the substitutions requested (MaintainerProject Lead, Working Group ParticipantsProject Contributors, Working GroupProject):

  • Decision Making — consensus-based decision making, appeal process.
  • Specification Development Process — Pre-Draft, Draft, Final, Deprecated, each stating what stability it implies for implementers. Community Spec's "Approved Specification" is rendered as Final.
  • Non-Confidential, Restricted Disclosure.

"Ways of Working" (the ANSI due-process section) was not adopted; it was not in the ask.

Other changes from the review

Feedback Change
Contributor role wording Adopted verbatim
Project Lead role wording Adopted verbatim
Breaking changes: 14 days is too short, message the conditions New Backward compatibility section. Compatibility is not broken in a Final spec; four conditions listed under which a break would be considered at all; review raised from 14 to a minimum 30 days, matching CHARTER.md
Rephrase fixed periods as "a minimum {N}-day review" Done for all comment periods. Maintainer response targets are left as targets, since "minimum" reads backwards on a commitment we make to contributors
Move Normative Text conditions to CONTRIBUTING.md Moved, led by your sentence. Steps for a normative contribution now listed there

The Foundation transition section is rewritten. It said TRACE was targeting CoSAI and the LF entity hosting MCP, which is not where this is going.

Licensing: please confirm

Two items for LF, both flagged rather than assumed.

1. The relicense. The required language makes Apache-2.0 the Project License for "all code and specification contributions" and puts CC BY 4.0 on "documentation (excluding specifications)". TRACE shipped the inverse: spec text CC BY 4.0, code Apache-2.0. This PR moves to the LF default rather than asking for the Maintainer exception. LICENSE, the README badge, CHARTER.md §4 and spec/trace-v0.2.md are updated. Grants already made under CC BY 4.0 are not withdrawn.

2. Consent for carried-forward text. spec/trace-v0.1.md includes §3.3.2, contributed by an outside contributor (@carloshvp, #92 and #94) under the CC BY 4.0 terms in force at the time. That text is present in spec/trace-v0.2.md. Relicensing it to Apache-2.0 needs their consent, which has not been sought yet. Until it is recorded, LICENSE states that portions carried forward from v0.1 remain available under CC BY 4.0 and a recipient may rely on either license. spec/trace-v0.1.md itself stays CC BY 4.0 as a superseded version.

Happy to take either as a review comment.

Not in this PR

  • CHARTER.md beyond the licensing sentence. LF is supplying the Technical Charter template, so the existing charter is left for that pass.
  • MAINTAINERS.md needs no change; it already lists the Project Lead, as the new role text requires.

…ion structure

Brings GOVERNANCE.md into the shape the Linux Foundation requires to host
TRACE Specification as a Series of LF Projects, LLC, per formation guidance
from Jory Burson (LF VP of Standards).

Required by LF:
- Insert the "General Project Policies" block verbatim at the top of
  GOVERNANCE.md, establishing the series, pointing at lfprojects.org/policies,
  and setting Apache-2.0 as the Project License for code and specifications
  with CC BY 4.0 for other documentation.

Community Specification alignment (the three sections LF named), with
Maintainer -> Project Lead, Working Group Participants -> Project Contributors,
Working Group -> Project:
- Decision Making: consensus-based decision making and appeal process.
- Specification Development Process: Pre-Draft, Draft, Final, Deprecated, with
  what stability each status implies for implementers.
- Non-Confidential, Restricted Disclosure.

Also:
- Contributor and Project Lead role text replaced with LF's wording.
- New Backward compatibility section. TRACE does not break compatibility in a
  Final spec; states the conditions under which a breaking change would be
  considered at all, and raises the breaking-change review from 14 to a
  minimum 30 days, matching CHARTER.md.
- Comment periods are now stated as minimums so a live discussion is not
  expired by a clock. Maintainer response targets stay as targets.
- Normative-text conditions move from GOVERNANCE.md to CONTRIBUTING.md, where
  they belong as conditions on a type of contribution.
- Foundation transition section rewritten; it named CoSAI and the LF entity
  hosting MCP, which is no longer where this is going.

Relicensing: LICENSE, README badge, CHARTER.md and spec/trace-v0.2.md move
specification text to Apache-2.0 and non-spec documentation to CC BY 4.0.
Grants already made under CC BY 4.0 are not withdrawn. spec/trace-v0.1.md
stays CC BY 4.0, and text carried forward from it into v0.2 remains dual
available pending relicense consent from its contributors.

Signed-off-by: Imran Siddique <imran.siddique@opaque.co>
@imran-siddique

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Holding this open until the Linux Foundation responds. The text on this branch is what was shared with them on 7 August, so merging before sign-off would change the version under review.

Not blocked on anything our side. Will merge on explicit LF approval.

imran-siddique added a commit that referenced this pull request Aug 8, 2026
The Later section said "CoSAI / Linux Foundation" and my first pass replaced it
with AAIF. Neither is right. TRACE is being formed as its own LF series, "TRACE
Specification, a Series of LF Projects, LLC", which #127 is preparing
GOVERNANCE.md for.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
imran-siddique added a commit that referenced this pull request Aug 8, 2026
* docs(roadmap): bring the roadmap up to what actually shipped

ROADMAP.md opened with "Now - v0.1 draft (June 2026)" and listed the MCP
profile, the A2A profile and cMCP Phase 2 under "Next - v0.2 (Q3 2026)", while
the repository ships spec v0.2, SDK 0.6.0 and a 0.4.1 conformance suite. The
roadmap is the second file a serious evaluator opens and it said the project was
two months behind where it is.

Now/Next/Later re-cut against the code. Shipped lists the profile URI cutover
and its enforcement, the delegation link block, transparency optional below
Level 2, the azure-cvm-sev-snp platform, revocation at verification time, the
OWASP and Acta cross-walks, and the AGT/cMCP/sandbox producer adapters.

Two corrections of substance rather than dates. The delegation block is
described as the foundation the A2A profile binds to and not as the profile,
because the normative binding rules are the outstanding work. And the anchor and
inclusion-proof format (#111) is named as the highest priority item on the page,
since without it "verifiable without trusting the operator" is a claim about the
future.

The platform bullet says what this repository does rather than what the stack
does: the SDK verifies the record, and verification of attestation evidence
lives in cmcp and agent-manifest.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* docs(roadmap): name the actual standards home, the LF series

The Later section said "CoSAI / Linux Foundation" and my first pass replaced it
with AAIF. Neither is right. TRACE is being formed as its own LF series, "TRACE
Specification, a Series of LF Projects, LLC", which #127 is preparing
GOVERNANCE.md for.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
imran-siddique added a commit that referenced this pull request Aug 8, 2026
… places (#133)

Three documents named three different standards homes. Section 6.1 proposed
splitting TRACE between CoSAI and the Linux Foundation entity hosting MCP, the
README said "Targeting AAIF", and the roadmap said something else again. TRACE
is being formed at the Linux Foundation as its own series, "TRACE Specification,
a Series of LF Projects, LLC", which #127 is preparing GOVERNANCE.md for.

Section 4.1 described the MCP and A2A profiles as "targeted for v0.2" inside the
v0.2 document. Neither shipped in v0.2. Both now say v0.3, and the A2A entry
names what did land: the delegation link block, as the foundation the binding
rules attach to.

The two open questions those changes answer, Q1 host organization and Q6 A2A
timing, are marked resolved in place rather than deleted, so a reader tracking
them can see how they landed. The section heading moves from "before v0.2" to
"before v1.0".

Section 6.3 licensing is deliberately untouched. It still says CC BY 4.0 for
specifications, and the LF relicensing question is live on #127.

No normative text, schema, or record field changed.

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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