Comment by bayindirh
3 hours ago
Hi Daan,
Thanks for the answer. Let me ask you something close with a more blunt angle:
Considering most of the tech is already present and shipping in the current systemd, what prevents our systems to become a immutable monolith like macOS or current Android with the flick of a switch?
Or a more grave scenario: What prevents Microsoft from mandating removal of enrollment permissions for user keychains and Secure Boot toggle, hence every Linux distribution has to go through Microsoft's blessing to be bootable?
So adding all of this technology will certainly make it more easy to be used for either good or bad. And it will certainly become possible to build an OS that will be less hackable than your run of the mill Linux distro.
But we will never enforce using any of these features in systemd itself. It will always be up to the distro to enable and configure the system to become an immutable monolith. And I certainly don't think distributions like Fedora or Debian will ever go in that direction.
We don't really have any control over what Microsoft decides to do with Secure Boot. If they decide at one point to make Secure Boot reject any Linux distribution and hardware vendors prevent enrolling user owned keys, we're in just as much trouble as everyone else running Linux will be.
I doubt that will actually happen in practice though.
I would be _shocked_ if, conditional on your project being successful, this _wasn't_ commonly used to lock down computing abilities commonly taken for granted today. And I think you know this.
> So adding all of this technology will certainly make it more easy to be used for either good or bad.
Then maybe you shouldn't be doing it?
Hopefully cartel regulation would prevent Microsoft from using their market leader position to force partners to remove all support for competitors.
But I'm losing hope with those.
Nothing, but openbsd is amazing and just works. Anyone still using Linux on the desktop in 2026 should switch.
(I like OpenBSD, but) It is extremely hard to compete with Linux on hardware support / driver coverage.
"Just don't use X" doesn't solve any problems in any space, unfortunately.
Plus, it's an avoidant and reductionist take.
Note: I have nothing against BSDs, but again, this is not the answer.
It works for me and for millions of others.
Stop trying to make everyone act like you act.
2 replies →
You could describe Richard Stallman as someone who refuses to use proprietary software because he sees using it as becoming complicit--however indirectly--in a technology ecosystem that violates the values he’s committed to.
"Just don't use X" is in fact a very engaged and principled response. Try again.
I like the GPL for the kernel, so I wouldn't switch.