opentofu

The Terraform question that actually filters. Everyone knows both meta-arguments exist; the answer is about how state addresses resources, and why an index is a fragile key.

Everyone can say state maps config to reality. The follow-up that separates candidates is what else is in the file, and what that means for who may read it.

Everyone answers state locking. The follow-up is what happens when locking is not configured, and what you do with a stale lock at 2am, which is where the answer gets real.

OpenTofu is the Linux Foundation fork of Terraform 1.5 under MPL, drop-in compatible for most code, with distinct features such as native state encryption. Removed blocks and provider mocking also exist in Terraform. Portability survives by pinning version floors and testing both binaries in CI.