Devuan posted some comprehensive further information here on the current state of systemd’s merge for birthdate, and context to the orgs and entities involved. Eye opening.
Low effort internet slob. How anybody with an IQ above room temperature can take this seriously is beyond my comprehension.
And we don’t have to dig the into actual subject, facts or arguments, just observing what the article presents: Each was made by someone with a direct financial interest in the outcome. No one disclosed those interests. - Really article?! That’s a strong claim. What are those interests? You certainly don’t bother to tell us.
Beyond any potential for conflicts of interest, it appears much of the concern expressed centers on the lack of open and transparent governance over systemd.
That so many Linux distros utilize systemd while its code can be so quickly revised - despite a wave of user resistance - appears to be what’s causing the angst.
I am so old, I need to enter my birthdate in Roman numerals - is this supported?
“systemd birthDate Merge: Corporate Filings, Conflicts of Interest, and Governance Failure
How three decisions by individuals with undisclosed financial interests permanently altered the identity infrastructure of every major Linux distribution.”
with a title like that I read every word.
Easy read, short, naming names, entities, and origins.
The first sentence make clear it started suspicious enough:
“On March 18, 2026, a first-time contributor submitted a pull request adding a birthDate field to systemd’s user record schema.”
a first-time contributor always seems to be changing the world;)
It is open and transparent. You know who, who they are working for etc. Everything is public. These people make the same kind of decisions about a thousand things for years, and nobody cares.
The problem is that some people disagree on that particular issue. And this is where the magic happens. It becomes inconceivable that the maintainers who made those thousands of other decisions can’t make that particular decision without a hidden agenda.
Therefore you don’t have to argue the issue, you attack individual people and maintainers about the nebulous conflict of interest - which is also never actually explained.
@Schlaefer You make an entirely valid point and I appreciate your perspective.
In fairness, when the capacity to store sensitive personal data (clearly a 3rd rail issue throughout the tech world) is suddenly implemented in a hurry - and against overwhelming opposition of systemd users - things begin to feel opaque.
If nothing else, even if it’s initially an empty data field, the governance spirit of FOSS seems despoiled. 
that was actually the subtitle not the article
article: “The corporate filings show three equal shareholders, no outside investors, and self-dealing exemptions that let any founder sign contracts between the company and their own personal entities. All three founders were employed at Microsoft when they signed the founding deed. A hidden shareholders’ agreement - referenced three times in the Articles of Association but never filed publicly - governs economic rights, IP assignment, and vesting terms the public cannot see.”
it just shows three employed people, I agree, the writers are being circumstantial here, calling this one of the three pushes that push this thing forward.
All 3 “pushes” appear shady as he** though.
To this I would ask what is Devuan’s motivation to paint something purely innocent as shady as heck?
Devuan claims it “does not allege conspiracy or claim that anyone acted with sinister intent” but article leaves a bad taste.
Poeterring just goes along to get along and it quoted “Poettering stated when closing the revert: “We just define the field, so that it’s standardized if people want to store the date there, but it’s entirely optional. […] It enforces zero policy, it leaves that up for other parts of the system.”“
If they really wanted to protect children from the Dangers of the Internet they would just create a License like a Drivers License for you to get at “Age Old” Once your an Adult the License can just reflect that your over 18 years of age. But they don’t really want to protect children.
The subtitle was How three decisions by individuals with undisclosed financial interests.
The content of the article - if three short paragraphs qualify as an article - was: Each was made by someone with a direct financial interest in the outcome. No one disclosed those interests.
How? Why? Someone should make that argument, the article certainly doesn’t.
Well three people who worked at a company decided to do a new company. They could decide to do a toy company. This information doesn’t provide any motive, incentive, interest for the actions the author claims. It’s just a random factoid. How or why does the former employee or new company establish any undisclosed interest? Specify the interest. Someone?
that’s what I asked as well in my reply.
They painted it that way. I conceded in my reply there are no receipts. But the sequence of events are sus–as the cool kids say–to the casual reader like me.
My take on Devuan’s intention is different than yours and that’s OK. They wrote it like it didn’t pass the smell test, and as a reader the sequence of events didn’t pass the smell test with me. They say quite clearly that wasn’t their intention and as you said, they did not come bearing evidence. I know at the end of the day it’s just an innocuous entry in a new systemd field.
Sure seemed a ‘funny’ sequence of events as they wrote it, though.
It’s a shame that the systemd “findings” of this project have such weak foundations, as the material in the overall TROTE Project about Meta’s lobbying network is very useful.
This is a never ending story. The click bait around this topic is just incredible. So many people make money with this outrage. Really impressive. All the influencers love the topic.
I can only say: If you dont like the birthdate filed, then dont use it. Very simple. Nobody is forcing you to use it. Relax.
I have personally got enough of these systemd “discoveries”. They don’t bring nothing but division when there should be unifying efforts at this day and age.
I am also worried about the fact that some people spend way too much time digging into this and contemplating it and I think it’s starting to affect their mental state. On another forum there was guy who’s GitHub -page I ended up looking due discussion about this subject and it was either odd trolling or then aftermath of mental breakdown.
Well systemd is widely used in distributions, amongst them many commercial ones. If you have to verify age and implement it by law you should be prepared. I don’t like it, but I can understand why people start to deal with it. But a single birthday field doesn’t give me a headache at all.
Devuan… That checks out. All the people involved in that are total nutjobs.
Interesting. I know nothing about that camp. they are the deb-on-init folks, right? I did forget.
Brodie actually communicated with the guy who created the pull request. It’s worth watching this to put things into perspective.
Odysee version:
EXCELLENT video.
And, as a side note, nice to see an Odysee link. I love Odysee.
@Bink Thanks for posting this from Brodie. Worth watching (at vastly accelerated speed, of course).