Oracle supports Valkey

Redis changes its license

Redis Inc. has decided to change the type of license it uses for its Redis software starting from version 7.4. Read the announcement, Redis Adopts Dual Source-Available Licensing. Previously, Redis used a BSD 3-Clause License, which is very open and allows almost anyone to use, modify, and share the software freely. Now, they are switching to a dual license model, where users can choose between two new types of licenses: the Redis Source Available License version 2 (RSALv2) or the Server Side Public License version 1 (SSPLv1). These new licenses are stricter, meaning they come with more conditions on how the software can be used, making it incompatible with the standard way of defining and using open source software.

As a result, the open source community and prominent contributing companies, including Oracle along with Aiven, Alibaba Cloud, Amazon, Chainguard, Ericsson, Google Cloud, Heroku, Huawei, Percona, Snap Inc, and Verizon, are now all joining their forces to support the Valkey project under the leadership of the Linux Foundation.

Valkey plans to continue development based on Redis 7.2.4 and keep the project available for use and distribution under the open source Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) 3-clause license. Oracle is strongly supporting and backing Valkey.

"I've used Redis for over a decade which includes building software applications that leverage Redis and have created several open source libraries for it," said Dmitry Polyakovsky, consulting member of the technical staff at Oracle. "I'm thrilled to share my knowledge with the community and enable other developers to enhance Valkey's functionality by simplifying the process of building modules."

This change has no consequence on current OCI Cache customers of the service because it only affects Redis versions 7.4 and beyond, not the older versions. We are revising our offering name, and it will now be called Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Cache.

Looking forward

OCI Cache will continue supporting its current Redis 7.0 based service because the license changes don't impact it. No changes are required to any existing applications using OCI Cache with its Redis 7.0 based service. New applications can also continue using the same APIs and features with no modifications required.

Now, we're working on integrating Valkey support into the OCI Cache service to ensure our unique in-memory database offerings on OCI continue to benefit from open source advancements, enhancing value for our customers. This addition will be available with the existing Redis 7.0-based service in OCI Cache, providing users with more options to suit their needs but not removing anything to the existing service.

In conclusion, we quote Jim Wright, Oracle's chief architect in Open Source Policy, Strategy, Compliance, and Alliances: "Oracle is excited to see a community of long-standing Redis contributors come together to ensure a future for the project in open source with the development of Valkey. We look forward to collaborating and seeing innovation continue to flourish in the new home for this important technology."