Elastic promises "open"—delivers proprietary

> What the SSPL actually requires, though, is more akin to a GPL variant that requires *all* code in a User Product be provided under the terms of that license if a single component is under that license. This isn't just a difference of degree, it's a difference of kind - the requirement is no longer about enabling the user to have practical exercise of their freedoms, it's about ensuring that the user has the same freedoms for every component in the system.

Snag is, any licence that requires that IS NOT OPEN SOURCE. In fact, it's probably not legal. This is what bugs me about many many many discussions of copyright.

What it should have said is "is more akin to a GPL variant that requires *all* code in a User Product be provided AS IF under the terms of that license if a single component is under that license." - because that is actually the magic of the GPL.

Let's say I write some nifty code and release it as MIT. You then include it in your niftier GPL version. The GPL *does not* require you to relicence my code to GPL because you CAN NOT. What the GPL requires is a guarantee that - by complying with the terms of the GPL - you are also complying with the terms of the MIT licence that I applied to my oode. So when the GPL is applied to collaborative code it is NOT a guarantee that all the code is GPL, but it is a guarantee that if you comply with GPL then you are also complying with all the other myriad licences that may apply.

(So actually, if you really meant what you wrote, that's another nail in the coffin of the SSPL, because it's trying to enforce the impossible ...)

Cheers,
Wol