“MinIO已死？”近60k Star的明星开源项目官宣：进入维护模式

Core Viewpoint - MinIO, a high-performance distributed object storage service with nearly 60k GitHub Stars, has announced a shift in its open-source strategy, entering "maintenance mode" on December 3, meaning it will only receive maintenance updates and no new features will be developed [1][13]. Group 1: Background and Growth - MinIO was founded in 2014 to address the demand for high-performance object storage in private and hybrid cloud environments, particularly as AWS S3 became a standard [3]. - The project has gained significant traction, with over 1,400 dependencies, approximately 58.9k Stars, and over 1 billion downloads on Docker Hub, being adopted by over 9,000 companies in China, including major firms like Alibaba and Tencent [4]. Group 2: Changes in Open Source Strategy - MinIO has made several changes to its open-source strategy, including altering its open-source license from Apache 2.0 to APGLv3 in 2019 to prevent companies from using MinIO for commercial purposes without contributing back to the community [5][6]. - In May 2023, MinIO removed certain features from the open-source version, pushing them to the commercial version to reduce maintenance costs and focus on core functionalities [10]. - In October 2023, MinIO stopped distributing pre-compiled binaries for the community version, now only providing source code [11][12]. Group 3: Transition to Maintenance Mode - The announcement of entering "maintenance mode" indicates a shift in focus from developing new features to ensuring the stability and reliability of existing functionalities [13][14]. - The reasons for this transition include project maturity, limited developer resources, the emergence of alternative technologies, and strategic choices to avoid instability from frequent updates [14]. Group 4: Commercialization and Community Reaction - MinIO's move towards commercialization is highlighted by the introduction of MinIO AIStor, a subscription-based enterprise version costing $96,000 per year for managing 400TB of data [17]. - The community's response is mixed, with some expressing understanding and gratitude for the project's contributions, while others criticize the abrupt shift away from open-source principles [20][21]. - Concerns have been raised about the long-term trust in open-source projects as they transition to commercial models, with some developers recommending alternative solutions like RustFS and Garage [21][22].