Terraform, the world’s leading Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool for building, changing, and reworking cloud and on-prem resources, has undergone major changes in the last year. Here’s a quick rundown of the developments.
The saga began last August when HashiCorp revised the licensing of its flagship product, Terraform, effectively removing it from the realm of open-source software. This triggered an immediate reaction from the FOSS community, leading to the emergency of the OpenTofu project under the umbrella of The Linux Foundation.
It offers a free, open-source, and fully compatible alternative to Terraform. The project swiftly gained traction, as it currently provides a stable 1.7 release that meets all IaC needs. Just to add, recently, HashiCorp was acquired by IBM for $6.4 billion, a move that pretty much answered all of the company’s previous actions.
Terri Noyes, Oracle’s Product Management Director, recently announced in a post that the new version of their Enterprise Business Suite (EBS) Cloud Manager, a tool designed to help manage Oracle EBS environments on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), transitions from Terraform to OpenTofu.
“In addition, we have switched from using the Terraform infrastructure as code tool to OpenTofu. Note that this does not impact Cloud Manager functionality. We highly recommend that you uptake this new 24.1.1.1 release of Cloud Manager at your earliest convenience.”
Terri Noyes, Oracle Product Management Director
Let me tell you—this is big. When a tech giant like Oracle decides to take a step like this, it is a clear endorsement of the software’s quality. It also speaks volumes about OpenTofu, which, in just nine months, has evolved from a newborn project to being recognized and embraced at the highest level in tech enterprise circles. It is truly remarkable!
However, for one simple reason, OpenTofu is unlikely to overtake Terraform as the leading IaC tool soon. Terraform’s longstanding dominance is bolstered by a vast user base cultivated during its years as free and open-source software, a momentum that continues to benefit it.
Nonetheless, expectations are that OpenTofu will emerge as the preferred option in the future due to its open-source nature, which avoids licensing issues for those in search of a reliable IaC solution. In any case, we welcome Oracle’s decision, and foresee a bright future for the OpenTofu project.
