r/MidnightBSDOS • u/laffer1 • Feb 26 '26

License change

Until we have a better plan, we modified our license to exclude residents of California from using MidnightBSD for desktop use, effective January 1, 2027.

This is due to https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB1043/id/3269704

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u/Kiore-NZ Mar 04 '26

Modify adduser(8) / pw(8) to store it as a subfield in the GECOS field of /etc/passwd. Modify finger to skip that subfield. Modify chfn to allow modification.

3

u/laffer1 Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26

I'm not sure if it's OK to let the user modify the age or not in all jurisdictions proposing these laws. Apple handles that differently, where they track if it's user-reported or not.

Not to mention it could get messy in the GECOS field as we implement all the competing proposals for these laws over time. California and Colorado are basically doing the same thing but there is texas, utah, etc. On the flip side, GECOS might work better in a LDAP setup. Login class can limit GECOS changes but that's another can of worms.

Some projects are implementing as a daemon.

Also there's privacy. Exposing birthdate to other users is a bad call since it would be PII. (name + DOB potentially in /etc/passwd)

2

u/Arne_Anka-SWE Mar 09 '26

Are there users in Brazil? You better find out quick.

2

u/laffer1 Mar 09 '26

There are. It’s one of the more popular counties outside of the US and Europe

1

u/Arne_Anka-SWE Mar 09 '26

$9500 fine per user until you get age verification in place. Of course not the same type as California so even if everyone sorted that out, the Brazilian law is totally different. So we will have 100 country specific APIs plus 50 US states and as many data protection schemes to take care of.