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Birthdate field under discussion also in Arch Linux (github.com)
submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by pglpm@lemmy.ca to c/linux@programming.dev
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Add a required birth date prompt (YYYY-MM-DD) to the user creation flow, stored as a systemd userdb JSON drop-in at /etc/userdb/.user on the target system.

Motivation

Recent age verification laws in California (AB-1043), Colorado (SB26-051), Brazil (Lei 15.211/2025), etc. require platforms to verify user age. Collecting birth date at install time ensures Arch Linux is compliant with these regulations.

This is just a pull request, no changes yet.

The pull-request discussion thread has been locked, just like it happened for the similar thread in Systemd, owing to the amount of negative comments...

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[-] definitemaybe@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The ending content is pretty level-headed about this. Basically, "wait for a legal consult/directives from Arch Linux before implementing anything." That seems like the most prudent thing to do.

Hopefully, the legal opinion is that this is unconstitutional, and that a conglomerate of nonprofits will collectively agree to fight this in court if any of them are sued over ignoring stupid laws.

this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2026
139 points (93.2% liked)

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