this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2026

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Surge in Systemd forks after the latest changes (github.com)

submitted 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) by pglpm to c/linux@programming.dev

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The latest changes implemented in the Systemd repo, related to or prompted by age-verification laws, have made many people unhappy (I suppose links about this aren't necessary). This has led to a surge in Systemd forks during the last days ("surge" because there have always been plenty of forks). Here are some forks that explicitly mention those changes as their reason for forking (rough time ordering taken from the fork page):

paramazo/systemd "The systemd System and Service Manager without age verification"
ganitam/systemd "Systemd fork just before the Age Verification addition. Hoping more capable developers and maintainers do same.."
GSYT-Productions/systemd-fork "The systemd System and Service Manager, without the stupid Age Verification"
speedythesnail/unret arded-systemd "The systemd System and Service Manager, without the ret arded age-verification commits"
ta13579/systemd "The systemd System and Service Manager WITHOUT THE FUCKING AGE CHECKS"
r4shsec/systemd-no-age-verification "This is systemd but without the age verification made via pull request https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/40978"
Pingasmaster/fightthesystemd "Systemd without the nonsense: no age verification, no lighthouse built-in."
Jeffrey-Sardina/system "Liberated systemd -- no surveillance. Ever."
HaplessIdiot/systemd-saneagecheck "The systemd System and Service Manager with age verification bypass and polling rate options for said feature"
Queer-Coded-LGBTQ/systemd-fuck-california "The systemd System and Service Manager, but without age bs added in."
Codiak540/unshitted-systemd "A fork of systemd aiming to strip the Age verification. Sue me california."

Hopefully the energy of this reaction won't be scattered among too many alternatives, although some amount of scattering is always good.

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[–] Uncut_Lemon@lemmy.world 3 points 40 minutes ago (1 children)

It's more the question of why is everyone folding to this age verification nonsense. One dumb state makes a law, now everyone is bending over backwards to comply. A state full of corruption no less, like what are the alteria motives.

Maybe parents should start, parenting their kids, rather than making the government parent them.

[–] DarkMetatron@feddit.org 2 points 34 minutes ago

Because it is not only one dumb state but also multiple countries with such laws, either already active or as plans.

[–] Paulemeister@feddit.org 1 points 24 minutes ago

As long as it's offline I don't see a problem of implementing this. It's a nieche use case, but why not? No program has to use the interface. It does what's on the can: If I have a kid with a user not in wheel, it can install stuff on user level but might be "safe" from programs it is not supposed to use. Are people saying this is a slippery slope?

[–] Liketearsinrain@lemmy.ml 4 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Not to discourage anyone, but a big problem with maintaining a systemd fork is how much the "init" covers. But it's encouraging to see see just how many people are attempting a fork, if they join forces it could doable.

Worst case scenario there is alternative init systems that don't have the kitchen sink

[–] khleedril@cyberplace.social -2 points 4 hours ago

@Liketearsinrain @pglpm An init system is not a kitchen. There isn't supposed to be a sink there in the first place.

[–] robbo@programming.dev 14 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

the linux community is funny sometimes

[–] Samskara@sh.itjust.works -2 points 2 hours ago

Yes, this whole thing is very silly. Linux installers ask for your full name already. You can just make one up. Same with the birthday.

The slippery slope total surveillance state paranoia is hysterical.

[–] codiak540 49 points 11 hours ago (5 children)

Hi! I'm actually the creator of unshitted-systemd (the one at the bottom of the list). I had my eye on systemd for a few weeks due to the whole AI code fiasco, but the second my friend DM'ed me saying "they just added age verification" I said "I'm forking it", forked it, stripped the DoB field, and submitted a PR

Not even an hour later my PR was closed due to being "Spam".

So I went further, stripped all the AI code, the realName field for User Accounts, and started fixing issues that haven't been fixed by systemd themselves. I also saw a 4.5 second boot time speedup from installing mine. I have NO IDEA how, but it's happened.

I plan on going further and taking out parts that go against user privacy and control over their system (I.E: systemd makes the /etc read only by default, I've removed that code in my fork)

I can't do this on my own though, if anyone wants to help, please let me know! you can email me at codiak540@bbs.4d2.org, or contact me through github. You might be able to DM me on this platform idk I'm new to it, and my discord is @codiak540

If the original description hasn't made it clear, I'm not afraid of California. I don't live in California and as such believe I am not subject to their stupid laws. Keep that in mind if you're considering helping me.

[–] fruitcantfly@programming.dev 5 points 55 minutes ago

I also saw a 4.5 second boot time speedup from installing mine. I have NO IDEA how, but it’s happened.

If I saw a speedup that I didn’t understand, then I’d worry that I had accidentally broken something. It’s easy to get speedups by not doing things correctly

[–] idriss@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Lovely!

I wanted to fork too but wanted a more carefully planned one (avoid reverting the new time utility names in case they will be re-used in the future & to make syncing newer changes from upstream straightforward otherwise it will not be a one-to-one replacement)

I would love to help with your fork, allocate a worker to build a binary from the CI, create an AUR package (I already studied the systemd arch package a little bit), start using the fork and hopefully with some PRs too. Discord is blocked where I am so it would be cool to have a matrix group / space for this effort and let's see how far we can push this. Because if this doesn't work, I will be moving to Artix or Gentoo 100%

[–] Liketearsinrain@lemmy.ml 6 points 5 hours ago

I saw a fork coming when the AI drama started, good on you. Don't have the time budget for it right now, but you should contact the other fork devs, maybe you could join forces.

[–] far_university1990@reddthat.com 18 points 6 hours ago

We will watch your career with great interest

[–] robbo@programming.dev 17 points 7 hours ago

well you've already won from the marketing point of view compared to the others because yours isn't a shit (lol) name

[–] hodgepodgin@lemmy.zip 109 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Nothing more dramatic than Linux users angry-forking a repository

[–] zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev 37 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

As somebody that uses valkey, I'm happy there's drama.

[–] EmK 34 points 16 hours ago

Yup, and MariaDB, and LibreOffice, and Nextcloud...

[–] mech@feddit.org 47 points 15 hours ago (12 children)

Systemd still has no age verification, so all those forks are absolutely pointless.
If and when Systemd adds age verification, I'll move away from it.
But the recent change adds literally nothing. Just leave the field blank, like you always did with those for your home address and full name.
The age field is malicious compliance. It satisfies the letter of the law while being completely and deliberately useless for its purpose.

[–] pglpm 7 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

It doesn't work quite that way. Typically you have a sequence of very small changes, all "innocuous", that lock you more and more into the previous ones. When you suddenly realize that the cumulative change is bad, you also find it's very difficult to "move away from it". This is why it's important not to give away a single inch, from the very start.

[–] LwL@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

That's why I think the law is bad, but it doesn't really apply to open source software. You see the actual limit crossed, you can still fork the version from before that.

Even the law itself, as it stands, is pretty alright. It's effectively just a parental control system, the OS needs to provide the user age to applications, but that age is just whatever you type at install, without any verification. In general, if enough applications implement it, that's not a bad system to help protect kids without invading anyones privacy. Of course, it can be circumvented by the kid installing the OS themselves, but that possibility is a feature, not a bug.

The problem there is the slippery slope though.

[–] mech@feddit.org 8 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

That's simply not true in this case.
With age verification, there's a very clear cut-off point that you can see and act upon:
Age verification is when you're required to verify your age.
Not just enter a number.

And the way to fight against this law isn't to "boycott" systemd.
Literally no one will notice. It's free, so using it doesn't support it.
And no one even knows whether you use it or not.

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[–] randamumaki@lemmy.blahaj.zone 72 points 18 hours ago (9 children)

It's almost like the latest changes are unpopular or something... /s

[–] Samskara@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 hours ago

Angry nerds get upset about a nothingburger.

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[–] mereo@piefed.ca 53 points 17 hours ago (5 children)

Let's be realistic. All these forks will get us nowhere because systemd has become a platform on which major components of the Linux system depend. KDE's new login depends on systemd, as does Gnome.

These forks are just a reaction to the latest addition. They will fizzle out.

[–] redsand@infosec.pub 7 points 11 hours ago

I'm on OpenRC reminding you systemd is slop you really don't need for most systems.

[–] teft@piefed.social 41 points 17 hours ago (22 children)

That the Linux system depends on? No.

That your chosen distro depends on? Sure.

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[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 14 points 13 hours ago

This is so incredibly dump

[–] circuscritic 13 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (2 children)

As someone who has used Linux for over a decade, I have no idea how I would even go about replacing Systemd on my computer; even if I wanted to.

Ageless Linux, now that's something I can get behind: a script that I don't understand, to accomplish something I think I might need, or just think is neat.

Unfortunately, I don't use a Debian based distro, so I'm SOL on that front as well.

[–] PumpkinEscobar@lemmy.world 13 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

For arch... generally if there's a core/extra official package, there can be alternatives in the AUR that list the system package as a "provides" alias.

From a quick AUR search, the systemd-liberated-git package is already up there. To replace systemd you'd install the AUR package which would tell you it conflicts with the official/core systemd package and ask if you wanted to replace it. If the package maintainer has everything right, it should just work.

Personally I'll wait to see if a viably stable and well-maintained fork of systemd without age stuff shows up and switch once it sounds problem-free(ish).

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