Hadoop Open Source

Hadoop is an open-source framework for distributed storage and processing of large datasets. It is one of the most well-known and widely used open-source projects in the field of big data. Here are some key points about Hadoop being open source:

1. Open Source License: Hadoop is released under the Apache License 2.0, which is an open-source license approved by the Apache Software Foundation (ASF). This license allows anyone to view, use, modify, and distribute the Hadoop source code freely, provided they comply with the license terms.

2. Apache Hadoop Project: Hadoop is developed as part of the Apache Hadoop project, which is an umbrella project under the Apache Software Foundation. The project is open to contributions from developers and organizations worldwide, fostering a collaborative and transparent development process.

3. Community-Driven Development: Hadoop development is community-driven, with a global community of contributors from various organizations and backgrounds. This collaborative approach has led to the continuous improvement and expansion of the Hadoop ecosystem.

4. Transparency: The development process, source code, documentation, and project decisions are open and transparent. Anyone can participate in discussions, report issues, and contribute to the project.

5. Extensible Ecosystem: Hadoop’s open-source nature has led to the creation of a vast ecosystem of related open-source projects and libraries. These projects extend Hadoop’s capabilities, making it suitable for various big data tasks, including data processing, storage, machine learning, and more.

6. Customization: Organizations and individuals can customize and extend Hadoop to meet their specific needs. They can develop custom MapReduce jobs, implement new storage formats, and integrate Hadoop with other tools and technologies.

7. Community Support: Hadoop’s open-source community provides support, documentation, tutorials, and forums to help users and developers get started, troubleshoot issues, and share best practices.

8. Enterprise Adoption: Many organizations, including tech giants like Yahoo, Facebook, and Microsoft, have adopted Hadoop for big data analytics and processing. They often contribute back to the open-source community and share their insights and experiences.

9. Commercial Distributions: While Hadoop itself is open source, there are commercial distributions and services built on top of Hadoop, such as Cloudera, Hortonworks (now part of Cloudera), and MapR. These companies provide additional features, support, and services around Hadoop for enterprise customers.