The Linux Foundation recently announced its hosting of Valkey, a fork of the Redis in-memory data store supported by AWS, Google Cloud, Oracle, Ericsson, and Snap.
Following Redis Labs’ licensing change from BSD to SSPL, Valkey emerged with the backing of AWS, Google Cloud, and other major players in the industry. This shift in licensing prompted the community to explore alternative options to continue their Redis deployments.
Redis, a widely used data store, has seen licensing disputes in the past. Its founder launched the project under the BSD license, allowing for the possibility of commercial forks. Despite changes in branding and licensing, Redis Modules remained under the BSD license until the recent adoption of SSPL.
As Redis faced licensing challenges, the cloud vendors rallied behind Valkey, a fork initiated by longtime Redis maintainer Madelyn Olson. This move prompted a swift transition of maintainers and committers to the new project.
The establishment of Valkey under the Linux Foundation marks an important milestone in the evolving landscape of open-source projects. The community is actively working on compatibility releases and enhancing performance features to meet the needs of Redis users.
Looking ahead, Valkey aims to offer innovative solutions beyond in-memory storage, potentially exploring flash storage technology. The shift in maintainership signifies a renewed focus on technological advancements and performance enhancements within the Valkey ecosystem.
