Open-source projets are similar to tree in some ways. They are living through time and slowly but steadily growing, being much and much impressive and at some point far bigger than what people expected from the beginning.
But they face aggressions from diseases, insects, industrial limber and are even in competition to get the needed piece of sun not to collapse. The license act as a protection concerning all these attacks, following the example of the Sequoïa’s tanin, the GPL protects the project from massive industrial exploitation without couterparts, and even if the people changes, the tree keeps groing up.
But even big trees may fall if the roots are not deep enough, and like the sequoïas we would not even know the tree has fallen as the tanin keeps it alive for hundred years on the ground.
So, what kind of roots do we want now?