Fork time? Maybe all the anti-systemd zealots were right all along…
Edit: To address whether it is likely that this change will affect users: Gnome is planning a stronger dependence on userdb, the part of systemd where this change is being implemented. https://blogs.gnome.org/adrianvovk/2025/06/10/gnome-systemd-dependencies/
QUESTION: if I run my own system with local accounts, full root access, and no remote accounts… why should I care about whether systemd “MAY BE ABLE” to store someone’s date of birth?
Sounds to me like, for all I care, they could add fields for ethnicity, religion, d size, political orientation, colonic maps, or whatever else they want.
If it’s to build systems shared with underage family members, schools, or other public system… I personally DGAF.
Because the loss of control is never done in one move. It degrades, slowly. It is a slippery slope.
Today its this, next year something else that is slightly more controversial but, same as this, will likely be adopted.
5 years down the line law comes in with KYC - Lennert, that shitweasel, implements it, same as this. It blocks your services without activation. What then? Will you be more upset then?
What about a few years after that when you browse some website that is against the “administration” and you get flagged, next morning ICE drags you out of bed, kills your dog and you dissappear?
Will you give a shit then?
Maybe this is all exaggerated, but so was saying that ICE would off people in the streets a few years ago, yet its reality, today. The world isn’t what it used to be, you got to fight, constantly, otherwise your freedoms get eroded.
If the whole story was the addition of this change with no other context, I’d agree. But if you read the PR description you’ll see its more than that. The laws in question are specifically called out. This suggests that whether or not the legal interpretation of compliance changes (the law could require more than just DOB entry, aka DOB verification with government ID), systemd is planning to comply rather than join the legal battle against these invasive requirements.
Yes, I get that they may want verification with government ID… but unless they do it at a firmware level, anything above a FOSS Linux kernel on my own unlocked hardware, is fully under my control.
So far, it sounds to me like “age verif theatre” as applied to single user “jailbroken” systems. If they added this on a locked down Android system, as a requirement for network access (note: this is an actual proposal being floated around) then that would be of some concern… but systemd? 🤨
Theatre is all you need for proof of concept. Later it can be reinforced by making it a requirement for access to banking websites et al.