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AWS has announced that OpenSearch, its open-source fork of Elasticsearch, will now be governed by the Linux Foundation through the newly established OpenSearch Foundation. OpenSearch originated in 2021, when AWS forked Elasticsearch after Elastic moved to a proprietary license. This shift by Elastic, aimed at limiting cloud providers like It from offering hosted services based on its software, led It to create OpenSearch as a fully open-source alternative.
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Interestingly, this move to the Linux Foundation comes just after Elastic returned to offering its software under an open-source license, though with a catch—it chose the AGPL, which requires users who modify the code to also open-source their changes. Elastic will offer this alongside its proprietary license.
It, initially met with skepticism over whether it could manage a project like OpenSearch, has gradually opened up the project. Mukul Karnik, AWS‘ GM for search services, noted that AWS aims to make the project more community-driven, and the transition to the Linux Foundation is a step toward that goal. With the inclusion of other major companies like SAP and Uber as premier members, and others like Atlassian and Digital Ocean as general members, OpenSearch now has a broader coalition supporting it.
Karnik highlighted the many innovations It has brought to OpenSearch, such as moving towards a more cloud-native architecture and introducing features like segment replication and separating compute from storage. The growing interest in OpenSearch for AI-related tasks, especially as a vector database, suggests the project is expanding its capabilities and appeal.
Under the Linux Foundation, the project will adopt a more neutral governance model, potentially easing concerns about its AWS origins and boosting its standing within the open-source community. Jim Zemlin, Executive Director of the Linux Foundation, praised the move, seeing it as an opportunity to support both business and consumer search needs.
In essence, AWS handing over OpenSearch to the Linux Foundation marks a strategic decision to foster more inclusive growth and tap into the Linux Foundation’s expertise in managing open-source projects. This could set the stage for the OpenSearch community to thrive beyond AWS, becoming a vital part of the global open-source ecosystem.
