AlmaLinux is the latest Linux distribution to comment publicly on California’s AB 1043, the Digital Age Assurance Act, as the law draws reactions across the Linux community. In a post from yesterday, benny Vasquez, Chair of AlmaLinux’s board, stated the project believes the law may require operating systems to implement digital age verification and share results with applications.
AlmaLinux’s current position is to wait. The project does not believe AB 1043 requires immediate action and notes the January 1, 2027, compliance date. At the moment, it is monitoring potential court challenges and how upstream projects, particularly Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, address the issue.
As a downstream distribution based on RHEL, its response will largely depend on whether Red Hat or Fedora introduces technical or policy changes related to the law. Until then, AlmaLinux will not outline its own implementation plans.
The post also clarifies that AlmaLinux does not consider itself a primary target of the legislation. The project believes the requirements are aimed at commercial platforms with centralized app distribution and account management, rather than community-driven Linux distributions.
So, at this time, AlmaLinux is not committing to technical changes, opposing specific implementation ideas, or outlining a roadmap. The project acknowledges the risks, expresses concerns about the law, and does not believe immediate action is necessary. Further decisions will be made as the legal situation and upstream direction become clearer.
