Glossary · Licensing & Operations
Business Source License 1.1
Also known as: BSL, BSL 1.1.
A source-available software license that permits non-production use immediately and automatically converts to an open-source license (typically Apache 2.0) after a fixed time, usually four years.
The Business Source License 1.1 (BSL 1.1) is a source-available license popularized by MariaDB. The source code is published openly, and anyone can read, modify, and redistribute it. Non-production use — evaluation, prototyping, education, internal experimentation — is free.
Production and commercial use require a paid license from the licensor. This lets the project sustain commercial development while keeping the source open and inspectable.
BSL is not OSI-approved as open source, but each version automatically converts to a true open-source license (Apache 2.0 in TopoKit's case) on its Change Date — by default, the fourth anniversary of that version's public release. After conversion, the version is fully open source forever.
TopoKit, HashiCorp Terraform, MariaDB MaxScale, CockroachDB, and Sentry all use BSL or BSL-derivative licenses.
See also
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