OpenTofu Renamed and Joins Linux Foundation as Terraform Fork

HashiCorp's announcement of a Terraform license change in August sent shockwaves through the open-source community, posing a significant threat to startups built on the platform. In response, a community-driven initiative quickly emerged, resulting in the formation of OpenTF, an official fork of Terraform. Now, the Linux Foundation has introduced OpenTofu as the official name for this Terraform fork, ensuring its ongoing existence as an open-source project under neutral governance. Additionally, the project intends to apply for membership in the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF).

OpenTofu represents a collaborative response to Terraform's shift from the Mozilla Public License v2.0 (MPLv2) to a Business Source License v1.1. By providing an open and community-driven alternative, OpenTofu aims to maintain the essential principles of open-source software while offering a playful and humorous approach to the project's name.

Yevgeniy (Jim) Brikman, part of the OpenTofu founding team and co-founder of Gruntwork, explained the need for the fork, emphasizing that core building blocks like Terraform must always remain open source. Brikman credited HashiCorp for Terraform's success but expressed shock at the decision to change the license to a non-open source model.

Terraform enables developers to treat infrastructure as code, streamlining application and infrastructure integration and saving significant development time.

OpenTofu's founding group includes Gruntwork, Harness Labs, Scalr, Env0, and Spacelift, all companies relying on the open-source Terraform. These organizations are committed to preserving an open-source alternative for the community and the broader industry.

Jyoti Bansal, co-founder and CEO of Harness, highlighted the importance of OpenTofu's presence within the Linux Foundation and CNCF to ensure Terraform's continued open-source availability.

As for HashiCorp, its licensing change was intended to safeguard its core business. HashiCorp's co-founder, Armon Dadgar, explained the reasoning behind the shift in an August 10th blog post.

OpenTofu's success depends on attracting larger companies over time. Brikman acknowledged this challenge and is confident that as the project achieves milestones and gains community support, it will naturally attract bigger players. The aim is to maintain compatibility with HashiCorp's Terraform for the foreseeable future while considering the possibility of adding unique features to set OpenTofu apart.

Brikman recognized that major companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are currently observing the situation. OpenTofu plans to engage in discussions and gradually win their support as the project progresses.

To accomplish this, OpenTofu has laid out a public roadmap, with an alpha release as the first milestone. The project's ultimate goal is to expand adoption and gain the support of larger industry players, thereby ensuring the long-term viability of the Terraform fork.