Jan 22, 2021 15:40:00

Amazon decides to fork the licensed 'Elasticsearch' and continue to provide it as an open source version

Amazon has decided to

fork the Apache License Version 2.0 license version so that it can continue to use the search and analysis engine 'Elasticsearch' and 'Kibana' that analyzes data in cooperation with Elasticsearch as open source. Decided.

Stepping up for a truly open source Elasticsearch | AWS Open Source Blog
https://aws.amazon.com/jp/blogs/opensource/stepping-up-for-a-truly-open-source-elasticsearch/

Elastic's policy on AWS due to license changes for Elasticsearch and Kibana | Amazon Web Services Blog

https://aws.amazon.com/jp/blogs/news/aws-policy-for-elasticsearch-licence-change/

Elasticsearch and Kibana are services developed by Elastic and have been provided under the Apache License 2.0 (ALv2), known as a license for free software.

Under this license, Amazon launches the Amazon Elasticsearch Service (Amazon ES) as a fully managed service that deploys, protects, and runs Elasticsearch in a large, easy, and cost-effective manner. .. Furthermore, in 2019, we started offering ' Open Distro for Elasticsearch ', which is a distribution that provides most of the functions required by Elasticsearch users and developers, such as network encryption and access control support.

However, Elastic argued that there was no 'partnership with Elastic' expressed by Amazon in Amazon ES, claiming that it was a trademark violation. After filing a proceeding in 2019, in 2021 the license itself was changed to a dual license of 'Server Side Public License (SSPL)' and 'Elatic License'.

The fight between Elastic and Amazon over open source copyright-GIGAZINE

Amazon's decision this time is based on this license change. Amazon explains that it has decided to fork the software 'so that we can continue to use the open source version' because 'Elasticsearch and Kibana are no longer open source software'.

The base is Elasticsearch and Kibana version 7.10, which will eventually replace all the Elastic code parts included in the Open Distro for Elasticsearch.

It also explains that it does not have any adverse effects on Amazon ES users, but rather promises that new forks will add, modify, and enhance new features.

In response to the Elastic license change, Amazon pointed out that 'SSPL is a non-open source license designed to look like an open source license', and Elastic's expression 'free and open' is misleading. It claims that considering SSPL as a 'free' and 'open source' license casts a shadow over all licenses in the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) ecosystem.