3 ms·

We need a new word for this. We say OpenTF is (or will be) a fork, and forks are bad, nuclear option, etc, but really, Hashicorp are the ones who made a breaki

We need a new word for this. We say OpenTF is (or will be) a fork, and forks are bad, nuclear option, etc, but really, Hashicorp are the ones who made a breaking change, and the "fork" merely maintains that which already was, but for reasons, are not allowed to continue using their own name. We need for the shortest sound-bite 3-word sentence to the non-technical to somehow use terminology that says that the entity that caused the problem is the one who did some action. OpenTF did not (or is not prepareing to) fork this project, Hashicorp did. If it was me and I wasn't legally prevented by something actually binding in writing with signatures, I'd even keep using the original name and duke that out.

dijit 3y ago
The issue with that is the ownership of the name. Name is identity, and thus the canonical representation of "Terraform" is now BSL. However, if you don't have an identifier such as the trademarked name and you look at the project itself then I think you're right.
- PeterZaitsev 3y ago
  Do not mix source code license with Trademark. Trademark use is focused by Trademark policy which is here for Hashicorp https://www.hashicorp.com/trademark-policy https://www.hashicorp.com/trademark-policy
- hadlock 3y ago
  It can be rebranded, that's pretty straightforward for something that's such an industry standard. "Oh yeah? Earthworks? That's the open source fork of Terraform" pretty simple. If it were a lesser known technology it would be an issue but most of the (modern) internet runs on it, whatever they name the fork will be well known pretty much instantly
  - Brian_K_White 3y ago
    No one asked "How does one rebrand?" The whole point of this thread is the premise that it's not a fork. Hashicorp's copy is the fork, and it's backwards that the fork gets to keep the name and the original must rename itself.
Fawlty 3y ago
afaik you can't use terraform in the name, it's trademarked by Hashicorp
- Brian_K_White 3y ago
  That would be what I meant by legally prevented.

dijit 3y ago

The issue with that is the ownership of the name. Name is identity, and thus the canonical representation of "Terraform" is now BSL. However, if you don't have an identifier such as the trademarked name and you look at the project itself then I think you're right.

PeterZaitsev 3y ago
Do not mix source code license with Trademark. Trademark use is focused by Trademark policy which is here for Hashicorp https://www.hashicorp.com/trademark-policy https://www.hashicorp.com/trademark-policy
hadlock 3y ago
It can be rebranded, that's pretty straightforward for something that's such an industry standard. "Oh yeah? Earthworks? That's the open source fork of Terraform" pretty simple. If it were a lesser known technology it would be an issue but most of the (modern) internet runs on it, whatever they name the fork will be well known pretty much instantly
- Brian_K_White 3y ago
  No one asked "How does one rebrand?" The whole point of this thread is the premise that it's not a fork. Hashicorp's copy is the fork, and it's backwards that the fork gets to keep the name and the original must rename itself.

Fawlty 3y ago

afaik you can't use terraform in the name, it's trademarked by Hashicorp

Brian_K_White 3y ago
That would be what I meant by legally prevented.