OpenTofu project has recently emerged as a separate entity from Terraform after HashiCorp modified the licensing agreement with the release of version 1.7.0-alpha1, which marks the first version to completely break away from Terraform. New features have been introduced that may not be compatible with Terraform 1.7 going forward.
Previously, OpenTofu 1.6.0 was introduced as a drop-in replacement for Terraform, boasting immediate compatibility. In this version, two new features were added: state encryption for file state encryption, and removed block feature for removing resources from the state file while still retaining them in the live system.
On the Terraform side, version 1.7 was released back in January and became the first version to fully utilize the BUSL licensing agreement (version 1.6 later transitioned to BUSL after initially being released under MPL). Following these updates, the two projects are likely to diverge further, even though initial differences may be minimal and users sticking to old features can still transition back and forth.
Source: OpenTofu
TLDR: OpenTofu project breaks away from Terraform with new features, while Terraform shifts to BUSL licensing in version 1.7. The two projects may no longer align entirely, despite some initial similarities.
Leave a Comment