EMQX 5.9 adopts Business Source License (BSL) #15163
Replies: 5 comments 23 replies
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As asked also in #15212 @id Please clarify the intention of the BSL Additional Use Grant:
Which of the two options is the correct interpretation? A) an enterprise may deploy the product to production an unlimited number of times, as long as each deployment is a standalone node (not clustered) or B) an enterprise may have one instance of the product deployed into production |
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Also, the Licensing FAQ has the same ambiguity:
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What exactly mean the "Embedded redistribution"? |
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Reconsidering a Path for Free Cluster ModeHello EMQX Team and Community, First off, I want to express my genuine appreciation for the EMQX project. We have been running EMQX as our core message broker in a clustered production environment for several years, and it has been an incredibly reliable and powerful tool. We are grateful for the years of development and the robust open-source offering you've maintained. We have carefully read the recent announcements regarding the transition to the Business Source License (BSL) for version 5.9 and beyond. Furthermore, we understand the reasoning behind this strategic decision—the need for sustainability and the desire to unify the codebase. However, we are deeply concerned about one specific consequence of this change: the removal of the free cluster mode. For years, the ability to run a multi-node cluster was a cornerstone of the open-source version of EMQX. This feature wasn't just for massive-scale deployments; it was a fundamental requirement for any user who needed high availability and resilience in production, regardless of their size. For us, and likely for many other long-time users, this was a key reason for choosing and trusting EMQX. This change puts us in a very difficult position. We are now faced with a choice: Remain on an older, Apache 2.0 licensed version, which means we will no longer receive critical security updates, bug fixes, or any of the new features you are developing. Pay for a commercial license to regain a feature that has been freely available for years and is integral to our architecture. While we respect your need to monetize, this change feels like it penalizes the very community that has supported and grown alongside EMQX. The promise of a single powerful node for free under the "Additional Use Grant" is generous, but it doesn't address the critical need for high availability that a cluster provides. Therefore, we would like to open a discussion and respectfully ask you to consider one of the following paths forward:
We believe that providing a viable path for high availability to your community users will ultimately strengthen the EMQX ecosystem and foster goodwill. We want to continue our journey with EMQX, benefit from the unified codebase, and keep our systems secure and up-to-date. Thank you for your consideration and for building a great product. We look forward to a constructive discussion. |
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FYI - I've created a new fork based on the Apache licensed branch https://github.com/mikekelly/LibreMQ |
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With version 5.9, we've merged our Community and Enterprise Editions and adopted Business Source License (BSL). All previous Enterprise features are now free for developers and community users to use. For more details, please read the official announcement
https://www.emqx.com/en/content/license-faq
https://www.emqx.com/en/news/emqx-adopts-business-source-license
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