OpenTF Announces Fork of Terraform

September 4, 2023

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In a significant move, OpenTF has announced a fork of the popular infrastructure as code tool, Terraform. This decision comes in the wake of HashiCorp's recent announcement to change the license of their core products, including Terraform, to the Business Source License (BSL). OpenTF's initiative aims to keep Terraform open-source, and the community's response to this has been overwhelmingly positive. The OpenTF manifesto, which was published to outline the intent of this initiative, has garnered significant attention and support from companies, projects, and individuals alike.

The manifesto had two primary objectives. The first was to urge HashiCorp to revert their license change and return Terraform to the community. The second, in the event that the license was not reverted, was to create a fork of Terraform under the name OpenTF. As HashiCorp has shown no intention of reversing their decision, OpenTF has taken the step to fork Terraform.

OpenTF promises to be:

  • Truly open source: It will operate under a well-known and widely-accepted license that companies can trust.
  • Community-driven: The community will govern the project, ensuring that pull requests are reviewed and accepted based on merit.
  • Impartial: Features and fixes will be accepted based on their value to the community, not their impact on any specific vendor.
  • Layered and modular: The project will have a structure that encourages building on top of it, fostering a vibrant ecosystem of tools and integrations.
  • Backwards-compatible: Existing code will continue to be valuable for years to come.

Furthermore, OpenTF is in the process of becoming a part of the Linux Foundation, with the ultimate aim of joining the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. This move ensures that OpenTF remains truly open-source and vendor-neutral.

The roadmap for OpenTF is already in motion, with engineers from various companies collaborating on the project. The repository is expected to be published soon, and the first release, OpenTF 1.6.0, is anticipated in the near future.

Thought-Provoking Insights:

  1. The Power of Community: The overwhelming support for the OpenTF manifesto highlights the strength and unity of the open-source community. When faced with challenges, the community can come together to find solutions that align with its core values.

  2. The Importance of Open Source: OpenTF's commitment to keeping the fork truly open-source underscores the significance of open-source software in today's tech landscape. Open-source projects foster innovation, collaboration, and transparency, which are crucial for the growth and evolution of technology.

  3. The Future of Terraform: With OpenTF's fork, the future of Terraform is set to be more community-driven and open. It will be interesting to see how this fork evolves and how it impacts the broader infrastructure as code ecosystem.

For those interested in tracking the progress of OpenTF, you can follow their public repository.