Impact of License Changes on Open Source Projects
How's that open source licensing coming along? 🔗
Recent license changes in the open source community have led to significant consequences for various projects, as highlighted by Dr. Dawn Foster at the State Of Open Con '25. Her research examined how three projects—Terraform, Redis, and Elasticsearch—reacted to these changes, often driven by pressure from investors for higher profitability. Each project experienced forks: OpenTofu from Terraform, OpenSearch from Elasticsearch, and Valkey from Redis. While Elasticsearch and Terraform's contributions largely came from their respective companies, the forks showed greater diversity in contributors. The research suggests that projects with a more varied organizational base tend to be more sustainable, indicating a potential shift in the landscape of open source projects following these license changes.
What are the main outcomes of the license changes discussed in the text?
The license changes led to the creation of forks for different projects, including OpenTofu, OpenSearch, and Valkey. These forks generally had more diverse contributors compared to the original projects.
How did the community contributions differ between the original projects and their forks?
Most contributions to the original projects, such as Elasticsearch and Terraform, came from employees of the respective companies. In contrast, the forks attracted a wider range of contributors from various organizations.
What does Dr. Dawn Foster suggest about the sustainability of these forks?
Foster indicates that projects with greater organizational diversity are likely to be more sustainable over time, suggesting that the forks created from the license changes may become more viable than the original projects.