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.
I can’t help but feel bad for Dylan. It’s not like if he hadn’t done this someone else wouldn’t have had to eventually.
It’s not like he had no way of thinking, “Geez, I don’t have the experience or knowledge or insignts to start the ball rolling on such a major decision.” and went on to do something useful instead.
He barely went into developing systemd for two weeks before shoehorning in his bootlicking, he can fuck off. You’re supposed to stick it to the man, not stick up for him
Woah, fuck this guy. He admitted the change was for the purpose of complying with these laws
It’s a fucking field. Why is everyone loosing his mind over it? It’s not like it is required, nor will it prevent you to do anything if you put data in (except not being able to change it later).
If you have to complain, complain about the law, not poor guy that has to add it, by law.
A single law pushed through in a single state in a single country should not lead to systemic changes in FOSS projects used worldwide.
The largest state in the union that has a GDP larger than many countries.
He has nothing to defend
The damage is done
He’s a collaborator; we don’t want parasites like him
In free software, there is FREEDOM
I didn’t switch to Linux to end up under the thumb of Microsoft’s henchmen and some random government
Lol.
The free part is you are free to remove the commit and build it yourself. Doofus.
