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Inside the Systemd Age Verification Debate: Developer Responds to Criticism (itsfoss.com)
submitted 2 days ago by cm0002@europe.pub to c/linux@programming.dev
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Dylan M. Taylor is not a household name in the Linux world. At least, he wasn’t until recently.

The software engineer and longtime open source contributor has quietly built a respectable track record over the years: writing Python code for the Arch Linux installer, maintaining packages for NixOS, and contributing CI/CD pipelines to various FOSS projects.

But a recent change he made to systemd has pushed him into the spotlight, along with a wave of intense debate.

At the center of the controversy is a seemingly simple addition Dylan made: an optional birthDate field in systemd’s user database.

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[-] quick_snail@feddit.nl -1 points 1 day ago

No. Don't follow unjust laws.

Especially Foss projects which don't have to follow laws, because they are outside their jurisdiction

[-] Dremor@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Open-sourcing a software doesn't make it magically immune to laws.

[-] quick_snail@feddit.nl -5 points 1 day ago

Of course it does. Do you know how laws work?

Who broke the law if the owner is everyone?

[-] Dremor@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

An open source software is, by law, the maintainer's (which can be an individual, or a group of persons) property. It is said maintainer who has the right to grant you any kind of license over what he owns.

In the case of an open-source project, that license is very permissive, true, but if you take the time to read any of those, you will always see :

  • A provision indicating that the owners grants that licence within the limits of the applicable laws
  • Sometimes a provision indicating under which juridiction said license is granted. If not, the user local laws are the ones used.

Source : the fucking law and the fucking licenses. And my friend, which happens to be a lawyer specialized in intellectual property laws.

this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2026
126 points (91.4% liked)

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