Mastodawn

This week's Linux and FOSS news:

LINUX NEWS

Colorado and California age verification bills exempt open source operating systems:
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/05/colorado-and-california-age-verification-bills-exempt-open-source-operating-systems/
(Good to see some win in this front, although other laws like the US federal law and the Brazilian one don't exclude FOSS so the problem still exists)
(Also, as Switched to Linux pointed out in his video, the Colorado bill is still a bit vague regarding whether restrictive copyleft licenses like GPL are excluded: https://odysee.com/@switchedtolinux:0/bill-passed-foss-carve-out-in-colorado:f)

System76 changed their stance, won't include any age attestation/verification in Pop!_OS and COSMIC:
https://system76.com/blog/post/co-and-ca-exempt-open-source-from-age-attestation

KDE Plasma 6.7 Beta 2 Brings Union Theming and Quiet Bug Fixes to Linux Desktops:
https://www.linuxcompatible.org/story/kde-plasma-67-beta-2-released/

AppGrid 1.8 Native App Launcher for KDE Plasma 6 Is Out with New Features:
https://9to5linux.com/appgrid-1-8-native-app-launcher-for-kde-plasma-6-is-out-with-new-features

Sway 1.12 Wayland Compositor Released with HDR10 Support via Vulkan Renderer:
https://9to5linux.com/sway-1-12-wayland-compositor-released-with-hdr10-support-via-vulkan-renderer

Labwc 0.20 Wayland Compositor Released with wlroots 0.20 Support:
https://linuxiac.com/labwc-0-20-wayland-compositor-released-with-wlroots-0-20-support/

Ubuntu 26.10 daily builds now available to download:
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/05/ubuntu-26-10-daily-builds

Manjaro 26.1 Preview Brings GNOME 50, Plasma 6.6, and Kernel 7.0 to Your Desk:
https://www.linuxcompatible.org/story/manjaro-linux-261-bianmay-preview-4-released/

NixOS 26.05 “Yarara” Released with GNOME 50, systemd by Default for Stage 1:
https://9to5linux.com/nixos-26-05-yarara-officially-released-with-gnome-50-systemd-by-default

MX Linux 25.2 Brings Kernel Patches, Text Mode Installer, and Better Live Persistence:
https://www.linuxcompatible.org/story/mx-linux-252-released/

Rhino Linux 2026.1 snapshot brings Lomiri desktop to x86_64 and ARM64:
https://alternativeto.net/news/2026/5/rhino-linux-2026-1-snapshot-brings-lomiri-desktop-to-x86_64-and-arm64/

Armbian 26.5 Released with Linux 7.0, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Builds, and More:
https://9to5linux.com/armbian-26-5-released-with-linux-7-0-ubuntu-26-04-lts-builds-and-more

Qubes OS 4.3.1 Release Candidate Brings Fedora 43 and Critical Security Patches:
https://www.linuxcompatible.org/story/qubes-os-431-rc1-released/

(more Linux and FOSS news in comments)

#WeeklyNews #News #Linux #LinuxNews #AgeAttestation #AgeVerification #AgeVerificationLaw #KDE #KDEPlasma #AppGrid #Sway #Labwc #Ubuntu #Manjaro #NixOS #MXLinux #RhinoLinux #Armbian #QubesOS #DistroRelease #DesktopEnvironment #DistributionRelease #LinuxDesktop #DesktopLinux #FosseryTech

Colorado and California age verification bills exempt open source operating systems

Remember all the ruckus with various US states introducing operating-system level age verification laws? Colorado and California thankfully exempt open source.

GamingOnLinux

ZenHeathen 🇨🇦21h ago

Hearing some rumblings about exemptions coming for Open Source in Colorado's and California's upcoming Age Attestation laws. So far, I've only seen this in one place, so I don't believe it yet. Anyone got some backup, or debunking?

#Linux #OpenSource #AgeAttestation

Hacker News 4d ago

Colorado and California Exempt Open Source from Age Attestation

https://system76.com/blog/post/co-and-ca-exempt-open-source-from-age-attestation

#HackerNews #Colorado #California #OpenSource #AgeAttestation #TechNews

Colorado and California Exempt Open Source from Age Attestation

System76 CEO Carl Richell shares how the open source community successfully worked with legislators in Colorado and California to secure exemptions from age attestation laws, and why the fight to protect open source values is far from over.

System76 Blog

rugk Apr 16

EU implementation of age verification maybe would not only have all the bad ipacts of age scans but wooorse… (yes you'd maybe think how can it get worse? Or you think well age limits are not bad… in any case…)

They will require face scans! For really no real benefit!

Find my full explanation including implementation analysis and upvote/comment here: https://github.com/eu-digital-identity-wallet/av-app-android-wallet-ui/issues/59 #ageAttestation #age #age_verification #eupol

Remove face scanning, it does not achieve any stated goal and has multiple disadvantages like human rights issues · Issue #59 · eu-digital-identity-wallet/av-app-android-wallet-ui

Coming from the Netzpolitik.org article about Von der Leyen's misleading communication (article in German) it was suddenly(?) announced: In der App sollen Nutzerinnen zunächst ihr Ausweisdokument h...

GitHub

Show thread

F-Droid Apr 15

@csolisr @EUCommission The #EU #AgeAttestation app is not #FLOSS now, and might not work on all devices, specially on those where EU citizens opted out of #US #Google control. Hope the president gets better tech advisors, these issues have been known to the app developers since the beginning, yet the speech says otherwise.

We've opened: https://github.com/eu-digital-identity-wallet/av-app-android-wallet-ui/issues/57 but the linked long discussion shows there's little hope.

Carlos Solís Apr 15

If this #AgeAttestation app is fully #OpenSource, can we expect this to land on #FDroid and work on a de-Googled device? Also, could it be eventually ported to desktop devices? ec.social-network.europa.eu/@E…

Statement by President von der...

European Commission (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image It is for parents to raise their children. Not platforms. The European Age Verification App is ready. It will allow users to prove their age when accessing online platforms. Just like shops ask for proof of age for people buying alcoholic beverages. And it ticks all the boxes: ✅ Highest privacy standards in the world ✅ Works on any device ✅ Easy to use ✅ Fully open source More info: https://link.europa.eu/HmnrJc

European Commission on Mastodon

Carlos Solís Apr 15

If this #AgeAttestation app is fully #OpenSource, can we expect this to land on #FDroid and work on a de-Googled device? Also, could it be eventually ported to desktop devices?
RE: ec.social-network.europa.eu/us…

Fossery Tech

Apr 12

This week's Linux and FOSS news:

LINUX NEWS

Manjaro lead dev plans to implement age verification, other team members don't:
https://forum.manjaro.org/t/will-manjaro-implement-age-verification/186816
(Aragorn for Manjaro lead! lol)

Solus says they don't have plans to implement anything, but aren't sure if the laws affect them, they are monitoring the situation:
https://getsol.us/2026/04/solus-and-age-verification/

Vipnix (a Gentoo > Funtoo > Macaroni-based, Systemd-free distro) rejects implementing age verification, excludes Brazil (their own country!) and California:
https://vipnix.com.br/site/livecd-vipnix/
https://github.com/BryanLunduke/DoesItAgeVerify/pull/73
(They are pretty brave that despite being a Brazilian company, they decided not to comply, respect to them. Idk if I would personally trust them though, because they include some Google and Cloudflare stuff in their website, but their stance is respectable regardless)

Mobian will do whatever upstream Debian does:
https://social.linux.pizza/@fosserytech/116370129667947301

I made an age attestation/verification tracker to track which FOSS OSes (Linux, BSD, others) comply with the laws, which oppose:
https://odysee.com/@fossery-tech:4/Linux-BSD-age-attestation-verification-tracker:7

Debian's APT 3.2 Released with History, Undo, Redo, and Rollback Support:
https://9to5linux.com/debians-apt-3-2-released-with-history-undo-redo-and-rollback-support

You can now enable Ubuntu Pro from the OS setup tool:
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/04/ubuntu-pro-initial-setup-tool

Bazzite Linux gets some major upgrades for the April 2026 Update:
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/04/bazzite-linux-gets-some-major-upgrades-for-the-april-2026-update/

Trisquel GNU/Linux 12.0 LTS Released with GNU Linux-Libre 6.8 Kernel, MATE 1.26:
https://9to5linux.com/trisquel-gnu-linux-12-0-lts-released-with-gnu-linux-libre-6-8-kernel-mate-1-26

Deepin 25.1 launches with Linux 6.18, UOS AI upgrades, and new immutable system features:
https://alternativeto.net/news/2026/4/deepin-25-1-launches-with-linux-6-18-uos-ai-upgrades-and-new-immutable-system-features/

TrueNAS 26 Beta Brings Linux 6.18 LTS + OpenZFS 2.4 Combination For NAS Devices:
https://www.phoronix.com/news/TrueNAS-26-Beta

GParted Live 1.8.1-3 Released with Linux Kernel 6.19.10 and GParted 1.8.1:
https://9to5linux.com/gparted-live-1-8-1-3-released-with-linux-kernel-6-19-10-and-gparted-1-8-1

(more Linux and FOSS news in comments)

#WeeklyNews #News #Linux #LinuxNews #AgeVerification #Manjaro #Solus #Vipnix #Mobian #AgeAttestation #Debian #APT #Ubuntu #Bazzite #Trisquel #TrisquelGNUlinux #Deepin #TrueNAS #TrueNAS26 #GParted #GPartedLive #NAS #LinuxDistro #DistroRelease #FosseryTech

Will Manjaro implement age verification?

I would like to know if Manjaro will implement any age verification code into their distribution?

Manjaro Linux Forum

Calvin Heim🥄Apr 11

Suppose an operating system doesn't issue signals for adult lusers who aren't 'Users' as defined by AB1043 (that is, defining adult lusers to be eighteen years or older).

Further suppose that the California Attorney General issues an injunction against the OS providers as per the law text despite no 'User' being harmed.

Does the Attorney General have legal standing in court to enforce this injunction in the absence of any harmed party?

#ageattestation #AB1043