Elasticsearch B.V. has announced the return to open product status for the search, analysis, and data storage platform Elasticsearch, as well as the web interface Kibana. The code for Elasticsearch and Kibana, in addition to proprietary licenses ELv2 and SSPL, will now also be distributed under the open AGPLv3 license. Prior to transitioning to proprietary licenses, the product was distributed under the Apache 2.0 license, which continues to be used in the OpenSearch fork.
The return to an open code distribution model is explained by the resolution of issues with AWS (Amazon Web Services) â it is noted that after changing the license for Elasticsearch, Amazon began investing in the development of its fork, partnerships with AWS strengthened, the confusion in the market disappeared, and Elasticsearch felt the diminishing threat to its business.
Unlike the GPLv3 license, the AGPLv3 contains additional restrictions for applications that provide the functionality of network services. When using AGPL components in network service operations, the developer is obliged to provide the user with the source code of all modifications made to these components, even if the underlying service software is not distributed and is used exclusively in internal infrastructure for the service's operation. The AGPL license also imposes copyleft conditions, meaning that to include AGPL code from Elasticsearch in their project, the codebase of the original project must be relicensed under the AGPL license.
It is worth recalling that in 2021 the Elasticsearch project was switched to the SSPL (Server Side Public License), which is based on the AGPLv3 text, with additional requirements for providing not only the application code itself but also the source texts of all components involved in delivering the cloud service under the SSPL license. The SSPL license did not receive open status due to the discrimination of certain user categories (cloud service providers). For those dissatisfied with the SSPL license conditions, Elasticsearch offered a commercial ELv2 license (Elastic License). In response to the license change, Amazon, Red Hat, SAP, Capital One, and Logz.io created the OpenSearch fork, under which the community continued to develop the open codebase of Elasticsearch 7.10.
Source: opennet.ru
