When Open Source Isn't: How OpenRewrite Lost Its Way
a year ago
- #licensing
- #community
- #open-source
- Moderne relicensed OpenRewrite code from Apache 2.0 to a proprietary license without community consultation.
- The relicensing affected multiple repositories, including rewrite-java-security, which had significant community contributions.
- Moderne withdrew OpenRewrite from the Commonhaus Foundation, contradicting earlier commitments to open-source principles.
- Community contributors, including the author, lost access to their own contributions and were unable to continue working on the projects.
- Moderne cited competition from tech giants like Amazon and VMware as a reason for the relicensing.
- The relicensing raises legal questions under the Apache 2.0 license, which requires contributor consent for such changes.
- Moderne later took corrective actions, such as restoring some Apache-licensed repositories and introducing clearer versioning for license changes.
- The incident highlights the importance of trust, transparency, and community engagement in open-source projects.