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Redict 7.3.0, a copyleft fork of Redis, is now available

redict.io

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Re: Redict 7.3.0, a copyleft fork of Redis, is now available

#11
post #6

I don't get the point of this - people are upset that Redis is trying to make money from companies like AWS and Google?

Slightly disingenuous question, but I'll bite anyways...

No, people are not upset Redis is trying to make money. People are upset that something that used to be FOSS is no longer FOSS, and are trying to protect themselves from future pain by doing something that is very common in FOSS, which is forking a project.

Just because someone is trying to make sure the software they rely on continues to be FOSS, doesn't mean that they are out to actively hurt the original creator(s) of the original project. I don't know how you could possibly read the situation like that either.

Re: Redict 7.3.0, a copyleft fork of Redis, is now available

#12
post #6

I don't get the point of this - people are upset that Redis is trying to make money from companies like AWS and Google?

Redis Labs didn't start Redis, they didn't contribute most of the code. They just own the trademark. They have about as much right to extract money from AWS and Google for Redis as I have, all they are doing is that they are hijacking an open source project to make themselves rich. They're not a victim of the cloud providers, they are a leech trying to make a score while fucking over all the other contributors to Redis, who have done 80% of the work they are trying to extract a ransom for.

Re: Redict 7.3.0, a copyleft fork of Redis, is now available

#13
post #9

Time will tell if the version on Codeberg ( https://codeberg.org/redict/redict ) can compete with the fork on Github ( https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey ) in terms of visibility and contributions.

Valkey is under the Linux foundation umbrella, and I assume will be developed by the same people who were previously making redis. I could not find who is behind predict.

Re: Redict 7.3.0, a copyleft fork of Redis, is now available

#14
post #6

I don't get the point of this - people are upset that Redis is trying to make money from companies like AWS and Google?

Substantial portions of Redis were written by AWS and Google. People are upset because Redis is a collaborative project with many people working on it and Redis Ltd wants the sole right to commercialize the work of an entire community. LWN has a good overview: https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/966631/8bc9d155d4e2afb3/ Redis Ltd is only responsible for about 20% of the work.

Perhaps true but besides the point, actually - the same companies will happily take your code and make a saas offering out of it on their oligopolistic infrastructures, making it economically unviable to compete with.

...which, given LGPL, will be worse now as they'll simply not share their modifications because that's the legally safest option.

Re: Redict 7.3.0, a copyleft fork of Redis, is now available

#15
post #6

I don't get the point of this - people are upset that Redis is trying to make money from companies like AWS and Google?

There is open source and there is non open source. Both is fine.

Open source does not make a difference who uses it.

Re: Redict 7.3.0, a copyleft fork of Redis, is now available

#16
post #3

If you have a commercial use-case, there is also a non copyleft fork available here https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/linux-foundation-launc...

LGPL is a pretty weak copyleft license and was chosen specifically because it is amenable to almost all present-day commercial use-cases for Redis. You don't have to publish your changes to Redict in most situations, commercial or not. Check out the FAQ here: https://redict.io/docs/license/

"Tip: Commercial and non-commercial users of Redict are not required to publish or otherwise “open source” the source code of Redict, including any private modifications they make to the source code"

And very next section:

"If you compile Redict’s source code into an executable form and distribute this executable form to others you are required to include a copy of the Redict source code and any modifications to it licensed under the LGPL."

Let's be real: Especially in the EU, the definition of distribution of derivative works is typically so strong that it's super risky to use any copyleft license and I personally (e.g. consulting for large companies) see huge issues with compliance whenever this happens.

In other words, it doesn't even matter what the current intention of using this license is regarding commercial use (but not distribution?)... I would not recommend to use this commercially for multiple reasons including risk, career but also the fights to be had with legal compliance.

Re: Redict 7.3.0, a copyleft fork of Redis, is now available

#17
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Substantial portions of Redis were written by AWS and Google. People are upset because Redis is a collaborative project with many people working on it and Redis Ltd wants the sole right to commercialize the work of an entire community. LWN has a good overview: https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/966631/8bc9d155d4e2afb3/ Redis Ltd is only responsible for about 20% of the work.

Perhaps true but besides the point, actually - the same companies will happily take your code and make a saas offering out of it on their oligopolistic infrastructures, making it economically unviable to compete with. ...which, given LGPL, will be worse now as they'll simply not share their modifications because that's the legally safest option.

And well, why not? That is the idea. It's open source.

Re: Redict 7.3.0, a copyleft fork of Redis, is now available

#18
post #13
post #9

Time will tell if the version on Codeberg ( https://codeberg.org/redict/redict ) can compete with the fork on Github ( https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey ) in terms of visibility and contributions.

Valkey is under the Linux foundation umbrella, and I assume will be developed by the same people who were previously making redis. I could not find who is behind predict.

You can see it here: https://codeberg.org/org/redict/members

Re: Redict 7.3.0, a copyleft fork of Redis, is now available

#19
post #3

If you have a commercial use-case, there is also a non copyleft fork available here https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/linux-foundation-launc...

Most commercial projects can safely use any of the Redis forks, whether Redis itself, Redict or Valkey. For Redict, you have to provide the source code of Redict - and Redict only! - in the case that you distribute it to customers. Redis has harsher terms, but only if you provide Redis-as-a-service. If you aren't a cloud provider and you don't modify the code of your chosen Redis variant, this is all a big nothingburger and neither of the licenses impose any important restrictions on you.

We desperately need all open questions regarding AGPL and SSPL to be clarified in court so this fearmongering can stop. It's really really bad for open source.

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