Dear community, We are initiating a vote on the proposed **Teaclave repository reorganization plan** to better align with the project's current direction and usage. The vote will be open for **at least 3 days**. Everyone is welcome to share your thoughts and **cast your vote by replying to this thread explicitly**: [ ] +1 approve [ ] +0 no opinion [ ] -1 disapprove with the reason
After passing the community votes, we will proceed with the action items to move forward for graduation. --- ## Background Teaclave was originally created with a broad vision to explore the possibilities of confidential computing. It consisted of multiple components, including SDKs supporting Intel SGX and Arm TrustZone, a general-purpose application framework (FaaS), and experimental verification efforts, spanning several repositories under the Apache Incubator. Over the years, as the field of confidential computing evolved, we observed a clear trend: developers increasingly preferred building their own Trusted Applications using SDKs directly, rather than relying on a general-purpose FaaS framework. This organic shift in usage has also been reflected in our contributor activities. Most community engagement and active development now center around the SDKs, especially the Rust-based TrustZone and SGX SDKs. As part of our preparation for graduation from the Apache Incubator, we’ve received recurring questions about what Teaclave is today, and what its long-term focus should be. To address this and align with current usage and contributions, we propose a refined mission and corresponding repository restructuring. --- ## Refined Mission `Teaclave empowers developers to build memory-safe (e.g. Rust) Trusted Applications across diverse confidential computing platforms.` Our primary focus going forward will be on maintaining and improving SDKs that support this mission. --- ## Repository Restructuring Plan ### Goals - Reflect Teaclave’s active development and current focus - Reduce long-term maintenance costs for inactive components - Preserve historical contributions and community merit ### `incubator-teaclave` **Current Status:** - Role: Former flagship repository for the FaaS-style confidential computing framework. - Activity: Last commit in July 2023. - Maintenance: No longer actively developed or aligned with the community’s current direction. **Shift in Focus:** - This repository will be repurposed as the **main landing page** for the Teaclave project (Podling or TLP). It will provide high-level documentation, links to active SDKs, examples to help users get started, and showcases to build with Teaclave SDKs. - Historical contributions and community merit will be preserved [1]. - Preview of reorganized content is already hosted on the `main` branch [2]. - A clear project overview - Links to active SDK repositories (TrustZone, SGX, etc.) - Showcases for each SDK - A unified contribution guide and roadmap [1]: https://github.com/apache/incubator-teaclave/graphs/contributors [2]: https://github.com/apache/incubator-teaclave/tree/main **Action Items:** - Deprecate the existing `master` branch and rename it to `legacy` - Set `main` as the default branch ### `incubator-teaclave-crates` **Current Status:** - Role: Hosts ported/forked crates for TEE platforms (e.g., sgx-crypto, protobuf) - Activity: Some crates are outdated or redundant - Maintenance: Partial **Shift in Focus:** This repository will remain an **auxiliary dependency hub** supporting only the active SDKs. It will be **cleaned and scoped down** to what is still necessary for TrustZone/SGX development. **Action Items:** - Retain the repository to support SDK builds and examples - Remove: - Crates no longer used by maintained SDKs or demos - Redundant forks of crates that now work upstream - Preserve and maintain: - Crates required by `incubator-teaclave-trustzone-sdk` or `incubator-teaclave-sgx-sdk` ### `incubator-teaclave-verification` **Current Status:** - Role: Experimental repo for formal verification methods - Activity: No active development or adoption - Maintenance: Unmaintained **Shift in Focus:** This repository will become a **historical archive** for early verification efforts, preserved for transparency and reference. **Action Items:** - Archive the repository on GitHub (read-only) - Add a short README noting its archival status and rationale ### Active SDKs These SDKs are actively maintained and form the core of Teaclave’s current focus: - `incubator-teaclave-trustzone-sdk` - `incubator-teaclave-sgx-sdk` - `incubator-teaclave-java-tee-sdk` No changes are proposed at this time. Any future updates will be discussed in separate threads.
