The popular open-source web server Nginx has seen a fork, with a new project called Freenginx launched by one of its core developers. This move comes amid concerns about the future of Nginx under the ownership of F5 Networks, which acquired the project in 2019.
Maxim Dounin, a veteran Nginx developer, announced the creation of Freenginx on February 14th, citing disagreements with F5’s management decisions and their potential impact on the open-source nature of the project. Specifically, Dounin was critical of recent changes to the security disclosure policy, which he felt deviated from Nginx’s established practices and community values.
Freenginx aims to preserve the original spirit of Nginx as a free and community-driven project. It is based on the latest stable release of Nginx (1.25.x) but will diverge in development under the leadership of Dounin and other contributing developers. The Freenginx project website welcomes contributions from the community and emphasizes open governance as a core principle.
The goal of freenginx, according to Dounin, is to keep nginx development free from arbitrary corporate actions and to make it a more community-driven project. He said that he will continue to improve freenginx and add new features and bug fixes, and he invited other developers and contributors to join him. He also said that he hopes that freenginx will be beneficial for everyone who uses nginx.
The long-term impact of Freenginx remains to be seen. However, it raises important questions about the future of open-source projects under corporate ownership and the delicate balance between commercial interests and community values. Nginx, while still actively maintained by F5, could potentially face competition from the new community-driven fork.
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