HACKER Q&A
📣 sebaz6r

Akka fork – who would be willing to contribute?


Akka changed their license to BSL. Many FOSS projects rely on Akka (e.g. Play Framework, Apache Flink) and are therefore forced to lock the Akka version to the last Apache Licence 2.0 release or replace Akka.

It would be the best for these FOSS projects to have a reliable Akka fork (focused on bug fixing and long term stability).

Who would be willing to contribute to an Akka fork (financial contribution, development or organisational aspects)?

Are there already ongoing initiatives for an Akka fork?

  👤 netsharc Accepted Answer ✓
Offtopic, I've never heard of Akka, going to the page https://www.lightbend.com/akka/ didn't help either..

> Akka provides the building blocks that make it easy for businesses to build, deploy, and run large-scale applications that support digitally transformative initiatives.

Fucking hell, buzzwords galore. Scrolling down it didn't get better, it's all just marketing blah blah.

👤 809u3jua
I think 90% of the community will gladly jump ship when a fork materializes. (We will for sure). The question is,who has the firepower to take the lead.

A fellowship of the actor between Tesla, Disney and Wall Street?

It wouldn't need massive innovation. Just security fixes and some natural evolution. E.g. HTTP3 etc. That could now be really community driven.

One does wonder if the new work should be covered by LGPL V3, as a BSL protective countermeasure.

👤 jryan49
From their FAQ [1]

I use Akka for an OSS project. What does this mean for my project?

    The license offers a customizable “Additional Use Grant” that grants production usage for other OSS projects including Play Framework.

    If you are running an OSS project using Akka, please contact us at akka-license@lightbend.com and we will do our best to continue to support your project
1. https://www.lightbend.com/akka/license-faq

Also after 3 years the BSL changes into apache

👤 spangaer
Something is brewing at Apache!!! https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/FLINK-29281
👤 sebaz6r
I created a similar post on the scala subreddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/scala/comments/xjfoa3/akka_fork

Upvotes appreciated.