Is Nuxeo still open source? Can I run it open source in production?

This week, I'm clarifying the answer to this question.

First of all, it's a fair question-details about Nuxeo's open-source status aren't always front and center. But despite smaller community engagement, Nuxeo is still open source. A quick glance at the license file verifies this.

The file at https://github.com/nuxeo/nuxeo/blob/2023/LICENSE is the full text of the Apache License, Version 2.0, which is an OSI-approved, permissive open-source license. Under Apache 2.0, you are expressly granted the right to:

• Use the software for any purpose (including commercial and production use)
• Reproduce and distribute it
• Modify it and distribute your modifications
• Privately use it without ever distributing

The only requirements are that you preserve the copyright notice and license text, include a NOTICE file if one is provided, and state any modifications you've made. In short:

• Yes, it's an open-source license (Apache 2.0 is OSI-approved).
• Yes, you may run Nuxeo under this license in production (the open-source versions are explicitly "enterprise-ready").

So you can confidently build, ship, host, and operate Nuxeo in a production environment under these terms.

While some add-ons on the Nuxeo Marketplace are proprietary-for example, the Aspera connector-there isn't a separate "open-source server" binary: the core platform code is identical across both editions. Note, however, that the public 2023 branch typically trails the latest upstream fixes by about three months, so you'll need to regularly fetch tags and rebuild to stay current.

How do you run Nuxeo open source in production?

Let's say you want to run the 2023 branch as pure open source. Your first stop should be the installation documentation, which outlines three options:

• Docker image: pull and run the official Nuxeo Docker image
• ZIP distribution: download and unpack the ZIP
• Build from source: clone the repo and build the server (and you can build your custom Docker image too)

Pay attention: both the Docker image and the ZIP distribution require a valid CLID (Customer License ID) from Nuxeo Connect. If you need a purely open-source setup without any CLID, you must build the server from source.

I even took the challenge to remove all my Maven settings from ~/.m2/settings.xml, and I managed to build the 2023 branch from sources-so you should be able to do it too!

Hope this clarifies the mystery around open source-don't hesitate to reach out if you have questions.

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