The Redis Rug Pull Is Worse Than You Think
Theo - t3․gg・42 minutes read
Redis has shifted to dual Source available licensing, impacting companies like Upstash, to prevent losing business to other companies in the space. The new licenses aim to balance availability, developer support, and investment protection, but face criticism for being too strict, hindering open source principles and causing concerns about the future viability of the project.
Insights
- Redis has transitioned from being open source to a dual Source available licensing model, impacting companies like Upstash and limiting deployment options for services like Railway.
- The licensing changes in Redis have sparked controversy and community backlash, leading to concerns about the future viability of the project, potential legal implications for contributors, and discussions around alternative, faster, and more stable options like KDB, Dragonfly, and Skytable.
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Recent questions
What licensing changes did Redis undergo?
Redis shifted to Dual rsal V2 and sspl V1 licenses.
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Summary
00:00
Redis shifts to dual Source available licensing.
- Redis is no longer open source in the traditional sense, with a shift to dual Source available licensing.
- Future versions of Redis will be under the Dual rsal V2 and sspl V1 licenses, no longer distributed under the BSD license.
- Redis will offer free use of source code under the new licenses, impacting companies like Upstash.
- Redis, an in-memory database primarily a key Value Store, faces challenges in building a business model around it.
- Redis's move aims to prevent losing business to other companies in the space like Amazon and Upstash.
- Redis's original creator, Antirez, left due to broken promises regarding licensing, leading to community backlash.
- Redis's new Source available licenses limit deployment as a service, affecting companies like Railway and Upstash.
- Redis's decision to change licensing is seen as a betrayal to the open source community, unlike PlanetScale's approach.
- Redis's new licensing restricts the use of Redis offerings from other companies with their source code.
- Despite the change, Redis will continue to invest in the platform, acknowledging it's no longer open source under OSI definitions.
11:54
Redis License Change Sparks Open Source Debate
- Redis will no longer be open source for future contributions, impacting those using it like Amazon.
- The new license aims to balance availability, developer support, and investment protection.
- The license change is criticized for being too strict, hindering open source principles.
- Concerns arise about larger companies benefiting from open source efforts without contributing.
- Redis has undergone multiple relicensing events, causing controversy and confusion.
- Redis modules were initially licensed under AGPL, then shifted to Apache 2.0 with Commons Clause.
- Redis later introduced the RSAL license, followed by a dual licensing arrangement in 2022.
- The concept of a "rug pull" in relicensing is discussed, focusing on community involvement.
- Sentry's relicensing under the FSL is highlighted as a successful model for balancing innovation and competition.
- The FSL converts to MIT after two years, encouraging ongoing innovation while allowing competition.
23:16
"Debate over open source licenses and alternatives"
- The debate centers around the use of the term "open source" to describe code coverage, particularly with the Business Source License (BSL).
- A suggestion is made to form a loose confederation of individuals using non-compete licenses to create their own set of values and brand it as Functional Source License (FSL).
- FSL is seen as a simpler and more balanced option than BSL, aiming to grant user freedom while ensuring developer sustainability.
- BSL is criticized for its complexity and lengthy duration of four years, which hinders innovation and disincentivizes progress.
- The main flaw of BSL is identified as having too many parameters, leading to each BSL being vastly different from one another.
- Concerns are raised about the impact of license changes on contributors who made open-source contributions under specific licenses.
- Contributors express dissatisfaction with license changes, with some suggesting pursuing DMCA processes for files with altered license headers.
- The potential legal implications of changing licenses without contributor consent are highlighted, particularly for employees of companies like Red Hat.
- The impact of license changes on the community of contributors is emphasized, with concerns raised about the future viability of the project.
- Alternative options to Redis, such as KDB, Dragonfly, and Skytable, are presented as faster and more stable alternatives, potentially serving as drop-in replacements.
34:46
Impact of Licensing Changes on Open Source
- Changes in licensing terms have impacted the open-source community, leading to decreased interest and questions about the use of certain software in 2018, prompting discussions on how to handle such changes and whether to transition to alternative options for a more open future.
