Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced today that it is transitioning OpenSearch, its open-source fork of Elasticsearch, to the Linux Foundation with the launch of the OpenSearch Foundation.
This move aims to enhance community involvement and foster open-source collaboration around the search and analytics engine.
AWS initially introduced the OpenSearch project in 2021 after Elastic, the original developer of Elasticsearch and Kibana, shifted its licensing to a proprietary model. Elastic’s decision was part of a broader effort by open-source vendors to prevent large cloud providers, particularly AWS, from offering hosted services based on their software.
Ironically, this transition comes just weeks after Elastic reintroduced Elasticsearch and Kibana under an open-source AGPL license. This license requires users to publish their source code if modified, though Elastic continues to offer its proprietary Elastic License v2 (ELv2) in parallel.
Mukul Karnik, AWS general manager for search services, acknowledged the initial skepticism surrounding OpenSearch’s launch. “When we created OpenSearch, it was new for AWS to take over and grow an open-source project,” he said in an interview. Since then, AWS has progressively opened up the project, encouraging community contributions and shared governance.
With the establishment of the OpenSearch Foundation, prominent companies such as SAP and Uber have joined as premier members, alongside other general members including Atlassian, DigitalOcean, and Canonical. AWS plans to increase its contributions to OpenSearch while encouraging further innovation and community growth.
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Karnik also highlighted OpenSearch’s recent advancements, such as the move to cloud-native architecture and updates like the separation of computing and storage. With growing interest in AI, OpenSearch’s role as a vector database has also expanded.
Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, expressed excitement about the collaboration. “Search is something we rely on daily, for both business and consumer purposes, and we look forward to supporting the OpenSearch community,” he said.
This transition allows AWS to benefit from the Linux Foundation’s expertise while helping OpenSearch shed its AWS-centric image, opening doors for broader adoption and innovation in the open-source community.
