[License Exception Request] Packer for `image-builder`
AverageMarcus opened this issue · 5 comments
The image-builder project relies on the use of Packer (as a pre-built binary) to provision VMs to be used for building the OS images.
The recent HashiCorp license change means this is now covered by the BUSL v1.1 license so we'd like to request a license exception for this dependency.
As far as we understand it, the image-builder project is still considered acceptable under the new license but would love a second opinion on that if available. The main aspect we're still unclear about is if including the Packer binary within our container image is considered "embedding" and falls foul of the license.
The use of Packer is currently essential for the image-builder project and having to migrate to something else (if anything suitable actually exists currently) would be a large undertaking. For now, we've pinned our dependency to v1.9.2 which is the latest release covered by the old license.
Resources:
- Tracking issue: kubernetes-sigs/image-builder#1246
- Relevant entry in the HashiCorp FAQ: https://www.hashicorp.com/license-faq#non-competitive-oss-usage
- Slack thread discussing the impact of this change on image-builder (which lead to this request being submitted): https://cloud-native.slack.com/archives/C0MP69YF4/p1692108926999039
@amye We're already following that advice and that has what has lead to raising this request.
There is no suitable alternative to switch to at this point in time and we've pinned the version for the time being but that is only suitable until the end of the year when HashiCorp stop offering security fixes backported.