The Valkey team shares lessons from forking Redis after the company changed its license from BSD to proprietary in 2024. Key warning signs included closed governance, company veto power, and opaque infrastructure. The fork prioritized open governance under the Linux Foundation, transparent processes, predictable releases, and comprehensive documentation. Challenges included tooling mistakes and communication platform debates. The team recommends drafting charters early, maintaining source control hygiene, documenting everything, and supporting downstream maintainers when corporate control threatens open source projects.
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