Systemd adds age indication ahead of schedule: Difference between revisions
work in progress of this ongoing event |
add Dylan interview to ext-links |
||
| (6 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Incomplete}} | |||
{{IncidentCargo | {{IncidentCargo | ||
|Status=Active | |Status=Active | ||
| Line 5: | Line 6: | ||
|Type=Privacy | |Type=Privacy | ||
|Description=Systemd added age bracket ahead of schedule, the merge was quickly done while the revert attempt was blocked, with possible influence from Microsoft | |Description=Systemd added age bracket ahead of schedule, the merge was quickly done while the revert attempt was blocked, with possible influence from Microsoft | ||
}}systemd is criticized of being monolithic | }}[[wikipedia:Systemd|'''systemd''']] is criticized of being [[wikipedia:Monolithic_system|monolithic]] (non-modular) and deviating from [[wikipedia:Unix_philosophy|Unix philosophy]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Russell |first=Sean E. |date=2025-07-30 |title=systemd really, really sucks |url=https://ser1.net/post/systemd-really,-really-sucks/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260214043401/https://ser1.net/post/systemd-really,-really-sucks/ |archive-date=2026-02-14 |access-date=2026-03-20}}</ref>. | ||
==Background== | ==Background== | ||
systemd is an initialization system, a suite of basic building blocks for a Linux system. It provides a system and service manager that runs as PID 1 and starts the rest of the system<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-02-22 |title=systemd System and Service Manager |url=https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260106163143/https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/ |archive-date=2026-01-06 |access-date=2026-03-20 |website=freedesktop.org}}</ref>. | systemd is an initialization system, a suite of basic building blocks for a [[wikipedia:Linux|Linux]] system. It provides a system and service manager that runs as [[wikipedia:Process_identifier|PID]] 1 and starts the rest of the system<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-02-22 |title=systemd System and Service Manager |url=https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260106163143/https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/ |archive-date=2026-01-06 |access-date=2026-03-20 |website=freedesktop.org}}</ref>. | ||
==[Incident]== | ==[Incident]== | ||
In Mar 5 2026, Dylan M. Taylor, a developer and tech enthusiast | In Mar 5 2026, Dylan M. Taylor, a developer and tech enthusiast, sent two commits to systemd (as a [[wikipedia:Distributed_version_control#Pull_requests|pull request]]) "userdb: add birthDate field to JSON user records", commenting<ref>{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=Dylan M. |date=2026-03-19 |title=userdb: add birthDate field to JSON user records |url=https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/40954 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260320055709/https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/40954 |archive-date=2026-03-20 |access-date=2026-03-20 |website=[[GitHub]]}}</ref><blockquote>Stores the user's birth date for age verification, as required by recent laws in California (AB-1043), Colorado (SB26-051), Brazil (Lei 15.211/2025), etc.</blockquote>In Mar 19 2026, Luca Boccassi<ref>{{Cite web |title=Luca Boccassi |url=https://github.com/bluca |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260320172404/https://github.com/bluca |archive-date=2026-03-20 |access-date=2026-03-20 |website=[[GitHub]]}}</ref>, a member of Systemd and a [[Microsoft]] employee, merged the commits. | ||
Lennart Poettering, the creator of systemd, known for having [[wikipedia:Lennart_Poettering#Controversies|controversial technical and architectural]] positions regarding the Linux ecosystem, has clarified that this change is:<blockquote>An optional field in the userdb JSON object. It's not a policy engine, not an API for apps. We just define the field, so that it's standardized if people want to store the date there, but it's entirely optional<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rudra |first=Sourav |date=2026-03-20 |title=Systemd’s New Feature Brings Age Verification Option to Linux |url=https://itsfoss.com/news/systemd-age-verification/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260320123152/https://itsfoss.com/news/systemd-age-verification/ |archive-date=2026-03-20 |access-date=2026-03-20 |website=It's FOSS}}</ref>.</blockquote> | |||
Lennart Poettering, the creator of systemd, known for having [[wikipedia:Lennart_Poettering#Controversies|controversial technical and architectural]] positions regarding the Linux ecosystem, has clarified that this change is:<blockquote>An optional field in the userdb JSON object. It's not a policy engine, not an API for apps. We just define the field, so that it's standardized | |||
===[Company]'s response=== | ===[Company]'s response=== | ||
{{Ph-I-ComR}} | {{Ph-I-ComR}} | ||
==Consumer response== | |||
Consumer response is mixed. Some says the age is manually entered so it doesn't affect privacy, others warn about the slippery slope and the potential to add national ID on system boot or installation. Users also point out Microsoft's influence over systemd<ref>{{Cite web |last=u/KestrelVO |date=2026-03-20 |title=Systemd’s New Feature Brings Age Verification Option to Linux |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz5zmh/systemds_new_feature_brings_age_verification/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321032725/https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz5zmh/systemds_new_feature_brings_age_verification/ |archive-date=2026-03-21 |access-date=2026-03-21 |website=[[Reddit]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=u/ChamplooAttitude |first= |date=2026-03-20 |title=Dylan, useful idiot with commit access, pushed age verification PRs to systemd, Ubuntu & Arch, got 2 Microslop employees to merge it, called it 'hilariously pointless' in the PR itself, then watched Lennart personally block the revert. Unpaid compliance simp. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz8i4r/dylan_useful_idiot_with_commit_access_pushed_age/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321005304/https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz8i4r/dylan_useful_idiot_with_commit_access_pushed_age/ |archive-date=2026-03-21 |access-date=2026-03-21 |website=[[Reddit]]}}</ref>. | |||
There was an attempt to revert the changes, and the user who opened the PR did provide many reasons why it should be reverted,<ref>https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/41179</ref> but it was rejected by Poettering saying:<blockquote>[...] | |||
please move your discussion elsewhere, you are misunderstanding what systemd does here. It enforces ''zero'' policy, it leaves that up for other parts of the system. | |||
And sorry, I am really not interested in these discussions here. it's not the right place for this, and please don't bring it here. Thank you.<ref>https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/41179#issuecomment-4090834541</ref></blockquote>Users have been migrating to Artix Linux, Void Linux, Devuan and other systemd-free Linux distributions. | |||
== | == External links == | ||
* [https://youtu.be/8bAN4Jam974 "I Spoke To The Dev Behind The Systemd Birth Date Change"]: an interview with Dylan, posted by Brodie Robertson | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||