Author : Sachin Saini, Senior Engineer – CloudDevOps

Original Published Date : September 18, 2023

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The creator of well-known open-source infrastructure as code (IaC) technologies like Terraform and Vault, HashiCorp, has declared that the Business Source Licence (BSL) v1.1 will replace the Mozilla Public Licence (MPL) 2.0 as the licence for all next releases of its products.

The BSL is a source-available licence that restricts commercial use but permits copying, altering, and redistribution of the programme. For instance, businesses using the software for profit are required to grant HashiCorp a cost-free non-exclusive licence to their derivative works. As a result, HashiCorp is permitted to include your derivative works in its own goods and services.

The open-source community’s response to this shift has been conflicted. Some think it is a departure from the open-source philosophy and may make it more challenging for businesses to use and contribute to HashiCorp’s products. Others contend that HashiCorp must safeguard its intellectual property because the BSL is still a liberal licence that offers a great deal of freedom.

The problems with BSL

The BSL licence is generally fairly permissive, enabling you to copy, alter, and redistribute the code, along with the additional usage grants HashiCorp wrote for it. There is one exception, though. If you match both of the following criteria, you are not permitted to use Terraform under the terms of the licence:

• You are developing a product that rivals HashiCorp’s.
• You incorporate or host Terraform in your offering.

Impact on Existing Infrastructure

Whether the existing infrastructure was built using Terraform for commercial or non-commercial purposes will determine how the BSL licence will affect it.

• There would be no effect if the infrastructure was built for non-commercial uses. The use of Terraform for non-commercial purposes is not restricted by the BSL licence.
• The organisation must abide by the BSL’s rules if the infrastructure is built with commercial goals in mind. As a result, the company must grant HashiCorp a free, non-exclusive licence to use its derivative works.

Depending on the particular conditions, this will have different effects in different ways. The transition to the BSL licence, for instance, could be a major undertaking if the organisation uses Terraform to manage a sizable and intricate infrastructure. The transfer, however, might be rather simple if the company is using Terraform to manage a modest and basic infrastructure.

The following are some particular effects that a company could see when transferring current infrastructure to Terraform under the BSL licence:

• Increased costs: The organization may need to pay HashiCorp for a commercial license to Terraform.
• Reduced flexibility: The organization may be restricted in how they can use and modify the Terraform code.
• Increased complexity: The organization may need to update its documentation and processes to comply with the BSL license.

Decision Factors

It is a difficult choice whether or not to move the current infrastructure to Terraform under the BSL licence. Before making a choice, the organisation must carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages of the licence.

Some of the factors that the organization should consider include:

• The infrastructure’s magnitude and complexity
• The current level of automation
• The level of IaC practice maturity within the organisation
• The expense of switching to a BSL licence
• The effect on the agility and adaptability of the organisation

Each organisation will ultimately need to decide for itself whether or not to move the current infrastructure to Terraform under the BSL licence.

The products that have changed licenses include:

• Terraform: An infrastructure as code (IaC) tool that allows you to create, manage, and update infrastructure safely and efficiently.
• Vault: A secrets management tool that helps you store and manage sensitive data.
• Consul: A service mesh that helps you connect, secure, and monitor your microservices.
• Nomad: A job scheduler that helps you run and manage workloads across multiple machines.
• Packer: A tool that helps you create machine images.
• Boundary: A tool that helps you manage access to your infrastructure.

There are a number of alternatives to HashiCorp’s products.

• Pulumi: Pulumi is an open-source infrastructure as code (IaC) tool that supports a wide range of cloud providers, including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. Pulumi is also more flexible than Terraform, as it allows you to write your infrastructure code in a variety of programming languages, including Python, JavaScript, and Go.
• Ansible: Ansible is an open-source automation platform that can be used to automate the provisioning, configuration, and deployment of infrastructure. Ansible is a good choice if you are looking for a tool that is easy to learn and use.
• Chef: Chef is an open-source automation platform that is similar to Ansible. Chef is a good choice if you are looking for a tool that is highly scalable and can be used to automate a wide range of tasks.
• SaltStack: SaltStack is an open-source automation platform that is similar to Ansible and Chef. SaltStack is a good choice if you are looking for a tool that is highly reliable and can be used to automate a wide range of tasks.
• AWS CloudFormation: AWS CloudFormation is a managed service from Amazon Web Services that can be used to automate the provisioning and configuration of AWS resources. AWS CloudFormation is a good choice if you are using AWS and want to take advantage of its features.

The best alternative for you will depend on your specific needs and requirements. If you are not sure which alternative is right for you, you can always consult with a cloud engineer or DevOps specialist.

Cost of Terraform Enterprise License

Depending on the product you are using and the support package you have purchased, HashiCorp will offer you different types of help.

The annual starting price for a Terraform Enterprise licence is $15,000 for five workspaces with bronze support. The cost is determined by the number of workspaces, the support level, and the total number of users.

HashiCorp offers a variety of support options for its products, including:

• Support from the community: The HashiCorp community is a sizable and vibrant group of users and contributors who may offer assistance and guidance on a range of subjects. Joining the HashiCorp Slack channel, taking part in the HashiCorp forum, or going to one of the many HashiCorp events are just a few ways to get active in the community.
• Documentation: HashiCorp offers thorough documentation for every one of its products. Tutorials, reference materials, and troubleshooting details are all included in the documentation.
• Self-service support: There is a self-service support platform provided by HashiCorp where you may submit tickets, look up answers to frequently asked problems, and keep track of the progress of your requests.
• Paid support: Additionally, HashiCorp provides paid support plans that provide you access to specialised support experts. Plans for paid support come with 24/7 assistance, priority response, and access to extra resources.

The specific support options that you will get from HashiCorp will depend on the product you are using and the support plan you have purchased.

OpenTF Initiative : Keep Terraform open source

Tools like Linux, Kubernetes, and Terraform, which serve as the fundamental building blocks of the current Internet, must, in our opinion, be fully open source. The only way to guarantee that we are constructing our industry on top of reliable and predictable foundations is to do that.

As a result, we collaborated with a number of other businesses to develop the OpenTF manifesto. The manifesto’s objective is to guarantee that Terraform always remains fully open source.

To this end, the manifesto lays out the following two-step plan:

1. Ask HashiCorp to switch Terraform back to open source. The manifesto is an open appeal to HashiCorp to act responsibly in this situation and switch Terraform back to a truly open-source licence (such as the MPL). Furthermore, we want to make sure that it continues that way, so we are requesting that HashiCorp make a promise to always keep Terraform under an open-source licence.
2. If they refuse, we will fork Terraform into an open-source foundation. We will fork the MPL-licensed Terraform (version 1.5.5 and all versions prior to that are still MPL-licensed) and place it into an open-source foundation administered by the community if HashiCorp chooses to preserve Terraform under the BSL licence. If it comes to it, we are one of many businesses that have committed resources to sustaining this fork.

Either way, the future of Terraform is open source. Please show your support for us and let HashiCorp know that you agree that Terraform should stay open source by signing the OpenTF manifesto at OpenTF Foundation!