The AWS project OpenSearch, which has been separated from Elasticsearch, has been handed over to the Linux Foundation and established as the OpenSearch Software Foundation. The project is overseen by its own governance board.
The approach of entrusting the project to a central organization is a way to increase confidence that the development will be community-driven, without rushing or withholding certain features based on the organization’s benefits. The formation of the OpenSearch Software Foundation has been supported by companies such as AWS, SAP, Uber, Canonical, Atlassian, DigitalOcean, and Graylog, with the notable absence of companies like Logz.io and Red Hat from its founding members.
OpenSearch marks a significant clash in the world of open-source services provided by cloud companies, leading to conflicts with the benefits of companies developing their own services. The original Elasticsearch project had used the Apache 2.0 license, granting freedom of use, but the development process had restricted access to crucial features for enterprise use, such as encrypted connections. This led to AWS creating the OpenDistro plugin set and eventually Elastic Inc changing its licensing policies.
Although Elastic Inc later reverted to an open-source license, it was under the AGPL license, requiring the disclosure of modified source code even for cloud services. Today, OpenSearch and Elasticsearch have diverged in their development paths.
Source: OpenSearch, Linux Foundation
TLDR: AWS transferred the OpenSearch project from Elasticsearch to the Linux Foundation, forming the OpenSearch Software Foundation. This move aims to ensure community-driven development and overcome conflicts with the benefits of cloud companies.
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