License change
We are releasing TGI v1.0 under a new license: HFOIL 1.0.
All prior versions of TGI remain licensed under Apache 2.0, the last Apache 2.0 version being [version 0.9.4](https://github.com/huggingface/text-generation-inference/releases/tag/v0.9.4).
HFOIL stands for Hugging Face Optimized Inference License, and it has been specifically designed for our optimized inference solutions. While the source code remains accessible, HFOIL is not a true open source license because we added a restriction: to sell a hosted or managed service built on top of TGI, we now require a separate agreement.
You can consult the new license [here](https://github.com/huggingface/text-generation-inference/blob/bde25e62b33b05113519e5dbf75abda06a03328e/LICENSE).
What does this mean for you?
This change in source code licensing **has no impact on the overwhelming majority of our user community** who use TGI for free. Additionally, both our Inference Endpoint customers and those of our commercial partners will also remain unaffected.
However, it will restrict non-partnered cloud service providers from offering TGI v1.0+ as a service without requesting a license.
To elaborate further:
- If you are an existing user of TGI prior to v1.0, your current version is still **Apache 2.0** and **you can use it commercially without restrictions**.
- If you are using TGI for personal use or research purposes, **the HFOIL 1.0 restrictions do not apply to you.**
- If you are using TGI for commercial purposes as part of an internal company project (that will not be sold to third parties as a hosted or managed service), **the HFOIL 1.0 restrictions do not apply to you.**
- If you integrate TGI into a hosted or managed service that you sell to customers, then consider requesting a license to upgrade to v1.0 and later versions - you can email us at api-enterprisehuggingface.co with information about your service.
For more information, see: 726.
**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/huggingface/text-generation-inference/compare/v0.9.4...v1.0.0