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you can look at the source, but it is not "open source": https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/blob/master/LICENSE

Isn't that open source though? Sure you have to pay, but you get access to the source and you can modify it and use your modified version as long as you pay.

Isn't this the vision that Stallman had about open source or free software and copy left?

I would consider this Open Source, but not Free Software.

Free Software according to Stallman's vision includes the right to distribute your modifications. You are not allowed to do that with GitLab EE.

There is a canonical definition of open source by the OSI[1]

This is generally called source available or public source, like the Unreal Engine, rather than open source, which implies you can actually do something with that source code.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_Source_Definition

You could modify it if you wanted, but the best way is to submit a Merge Request on GitLab.com, otherwise you will need to maintain a fork of GitLab (which might be a trouble to maintain depending on the changes).

You can only modify it legally if you have an active license though, assuming I'm reading the software license correctly.

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