OpenTF emerges as a reaction to HashiCorp’s license alteration
A splinter group has responded to HashiCorp’s recent licensing shift by introducing OpenTF, a new open-source fork of Terraform. The group aims to maintain the tool’s open-source nature and vendor neutrality by integrating it into the Linux Foundation and the Cloud Native Computing Foundation.
“We completed all documents required for OpenTF to become part of the Linux Foundation… to ensure the tool stays truly open-source and vendor-neutral,” the group stated.
Terraform, known for simplifying complex tasks through declarative infrastructure as code, faced controversy after HashiCorp changed its open-source license. Armon Dadgar, HashiCorp’s co-founder, explained the move was influenced by concerns about vendors exploiting open-source models for commercial gain.
In response, a community faction demanded HashiCorp revert to the previous license or face the release of an open-source Terraform version. With HashiCorp not acceding, the splinter group introduced OpenTF as an independent project.
Since the manifesto’s publication, the group gained support from 400 companies, 10 projects, and 400 individuals. Kelsey Hightower, a prominent open-source advocate, lauded the community’s agility in responding to the changes.
The group plans to release the OpenTF fork in 1-2 weeks, making the repository accessible initially, with alpha and stable releases to follow.
The emergence of OpenTF demonstrates the potency of collective action within the developer community, reshaping the future of Terraform’s open-source landscape. As the project gains momentum, its impact on the broader open-source ecosystem remains to be seen.
