A new systemd fork has appeared with a specific purpose: removing systemd’s recently added support for storing a user’s birth date in JSON user records.
The fork, called Liberated systemd, published its first tagged release as v261 shortly after the official systemd 261 release. In other words, the fork follows upstream systemd while reverting the change that added the new optional birthDate field.
Importantly, this is not a new init system, a wider redesign of systemd, or a general-purpose alternative to the upstream project. Its stated purpose is to remain close to upstream systemd while removing what the author describes as “surveillance enablement.”
As you probably know, in mid-March, the upstream systemd change adds an optional birthDate field to user records. According to the related commit, the field stores a user’s date of birth in ISO 8601 format, meaning YYYY-MM-DD. The change also updates homectl, documentation, user-record parsing, output handling, and tests.
Additionally, the commit notes that systemd user records already support other personal metadata fields, including email address, real name, and location. For the Liberated systemd author, however, adding birth date support crosses a line because of its possible connection to age-verification systems.
The project’s scope is intentionally narrow: it only removes birth date support and otherwise remains aligned with upstream systemd. The README states Liberated systemd will not add new features, bug fixes, security patches, or optimizations. According to the developer, liberated systemd exists only to remove changes the author considers surveillance-related.
So, keep in mind that means this is not a practical replacement for most users. Replacing systemd outside a distribution’s normal package flow is risky. The reason is simple – systemd is the first process started on most Linux systems, so a broken replacement can leave a machine unable to boot. Which is something we definitely wouldn’t want to happen.
The author recommends testing the fork in a virtual machine before using it on real hardware and warns nightly builds are more likely to be unstable than named releases.
For additional details, see Liberated systemd on GitHub.
i think i would just start having it show random ages on a very short timer once I locate where it stores the info.
if the info is optional and not required and its just a file i could delete anyways then i’m not sure what this does. I guess it prevents system from asking for optional info. I have never been asked for any info but I do not live in a state or country that requires it either.
Let’s be honest just for a moment: This fork isn’t about “privacy” any more than the age verification baloney is about “protecting the children”. It’s about someone finally standing up and saying “fsck you!” to government at any level that wants establish control over that which it has no business trying to control. If I had any use for systemd in the first place, I would support this idea whole heartedly.
Not sure why fork systemd just for this. Such things will keep happening as Red Hat is trying to implement everything and the kitchen sink into it, as the overbearing and overreaching toxic actor it is. systemd is toxic and will keep being toxic far beyond the age verification epic fail.
Better use those resources in better and more modern init systems/service manages like dinit or OpenRC, those are the future anyway.
this.
or stop using linux altogether and switch to bsd 🙂
I’m glad a hero has stepped up to save me from an optional database field.
Just never provide it the birthdate? Does systemd have plans to require it to function? I figured it would be up to the distro.
It’s not about whether systems have the option of using it or not. It’s about putting in place more and more infrastructure to monitor control and punish. As each piece is put into place, a system of control wills itself into existence, and the momentum builds for it to happen. Well we already have A might as well do B, well we’ve done A and B and now the govt is asking for C so might as well. Resistance is about resisting from the beginning, resisting each little piece because a cake will eventually be baked it’s only a matter of time and gradual acquiescence.