Valkey: the Linux Foundation launches the Redis fork

2024-03-28 · Publisher : Linux Foundation · Domain : Cloud & DevOps

Eight days after Redis changed its licence, the Linux Foundation launches Valkey, a BSD fork of Redis 7.2.4 backed by AWS, Google Cloud, Oracle, Ericsson and Snap.

### Background On 28 March 2024, the Linux Foundation announces its intent to form Valkey, an open source alternative to the Redis in-memory data store. The project starts from Redis 7.2.4, the last BSD-licensed release, and keeps that licence. Long-standing Redis maintainers and contributors (including employees of AWS, Google Cloud and Ericsson) regroup in a technical leadership committee. ### Key facts - Fork of Redis 7.2.4, three-clause BSD licence retained. - Backers cited in the press release: AWS, Google Cloud, Oracle, Ericsson and Snap Inc. - Governance by the Linux Foundation, with a technical committee of former Redis contributors. - Valkey 8.0 is declared production-ready on 16 September 2024 by its technical committee, with full command compatibility. ### Why it matters The speed of the reaction is the striking fact: within eight days, the main hosts of Redis (AWS, Google Cloud) rally behind a fork under neutral governance. For operations teams, this opens an exit path without changing the protocol or the clients. For contracts, it is a concrete example of how a restrictive licence can be worked around by the community, at the price of a fragmentation worth watching. The project also brings competitors (AWS, Google Cloud, Oracle) together around the same code, which limits the risk of depending on a single vendor. Long-term compatibility with Redis, whose code now evolves under other licences, remains to be watched. ### Takeaway Valkey shows that a licence change on a core component triggers, within days, a fork backed by the major hosts.

Tags : Open Source, Licence, Cloud, Hyperscaler, Données