The DevOps Joint

Introduction:

In a recent announcement on August 10, 2023, HashiCorp, a leader in multi-cloud infrastructure automation software, declared a significant change in their product licensing. They are transitioning from Mozilla Public License (MPL) to the Business Source License (BSL) v1.1 for future releases of all products, while APIs, SDKs, and almost all other libraries will remain MPL 2.0¹. This move has sparked a conversation about the implications for the open-source community and the broader tech industry.

HashiCorp’s Products and Licensing Change: A Community Perspective

HashiCorp’s suite of products, including Terraform, Vault, Consul, and Nomad, have been instrumental in shaping the DevOps landscape. The shift to BSL is a strategic move that aligns with the company’s goals and the evolving market dynamics.

According to HashiCorp’s announcement, the change to BSL aims to ensure continued investment in the community and to prevent vendors from taking advantage of pure OSS models for their commercial goals without contributing back¹. End users can continue to copy, modify, and redistribute the code for all non-commercial and commercial use, except where providing a competitive offering to HashiCorp¹.

Comparison with Other Companies:

• Elasticsearch and Kibana: In January 2021, Elastic moved the licensing of Elasticsearch and Kibana from Apache 2.0 to a dual license under Server Side Public License (SSPL) and the Elastic License².
• Cockroach Labs: In June 2019, Cockroach Labs adopted an extremely permissive version of the Business Source License (BSL). This change allowed users to scale CockroachDB to any number of nodes and use it in various ways, with the sole exception of offering a commercial version of CockroachDB as a service without buying a license³.

Impact on the Open Source Community:

HashiCorp’s decision to adopt BSL reflects a growing trend among open-source companies to protect their software while maintaining investment and innovation. While the change may have specific commercial motivations, it also raises questions about the future of open-source licensing and collaboration.

Conclusion:

Will this trend increase where we see more open source software vendors switching away from traditional open source licences?

How will the use of traditional open source software licenses (or those supported by the Open Source Initiative) evolve in the face of licencing options like BSL v1.1?

How will traditional open source collaboration and innovation be impacted as more commercial / open source software vendors make the switch?

HashiCorp’s licensing shift is more than a mere administrative change; it’s a statement about the evolving relationship between open source and business. By aligning with other industry leaders like Elastic and Cockroach Labs, HashiCorp is navigating the complex terrain of open-source licensing in a way that seeks to balance community engagement, innovation, and commercial success.

The open-source community and industry stakeholders must continue to engage in dialogue and collaboration to ensure that these changes serve the broader goals of innovation, accessibility, and shared success.

References:

1. HashiCorp adopts Business Source License
2. Elastic’s Licensing Change
3. Why we’re relicensing CockroachDB