274 lines
14 KiB
Markdown
274 lines
14 KiB
Markdown
# Red Hat Personnel Connections to systemd, Amutable, and the birthDate Merge
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Date: March 23, 2026
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Scope: Passive OSINT - Red Hat's institutional and personnel connections to systemd governance, the birthDate merge, and Amutable
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---
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## 1. Lennart Poettering at Red Hat (2008-2022)
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Employment: Red Hat, 2008-July 2022 (~14 years)
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Title progression:
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- Senior Software Engineer, Red Hat Desktop Team (as of 2013, per Developer Conference 2013)
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- Senior Principal Engineer (as of 2018 Red Hat Summit)
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Projects at Red Hat: PulseAudio (2004, pre-Red Hat), Avahi (2005, pre-Red Hat), systemd (2010, while at Red Hat), mkosi, casync
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Departure: His Red Hat Bugzilla account was disabled, surfaced on a Fedora mailing list in July 2022. He joined Microsoft and created a personal Bugzilla account to continue participating.
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Post-Red Hat path: Red Hat → Microsoft (July 2022) → Amutable (January 2026)
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Sources:
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- https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/07/lennart_poettering_red_hat_microsoft/
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- https://www.phoronix.com/news/Systemd-Creator-Microsoft
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- https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/29/lennart_poettering_quits_microsoft/
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---
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## 2. Other Red Hat Employees Who Are systemd Maintainers/Contributors
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### Yu Watanabe - Senior Software Engineer, Red Hat (current)
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- GitHub: yuwata
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- LinkedIn confirms: Senior Software Engineer at Red Hat
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- Top systemd committer in 2021 (nearly 30% of commits that year)
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- OSSRank lists as "Yu Watanabe - RedHat (IBM)"
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- Still at Red Hat as of 2026
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Sources:
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- https://jp.linkedin.com/in/yu-watanabe-b59a3575
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- https://www.phoronix.com/news/systemd-2021-commits
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- https://ossrank.com/c/318466-yu-watanabe-redhat-ibm
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### Zbigniew Jedrzejewski-Szmek - Formerly Red Hat "Plumbers Team," now Amutable
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- GitHub: keszybz
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- Red Hat's "Plumbers Team" - upstream systemd development and Fedora systemd maintenance
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- Third most active systemd developer historically (12% of changesets in 2014)
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- Maintained ~70 Fedora packages, completed 400+ package reviews
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- FESCo member (Fedora Engineering Steering Committee) - elected F43 (Jan 2026)
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- Left Red Hat for Amutable - GitHub now shows "working on open source stuff at Amutable"
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- Departure date from Red Hat not precisely identified; F43 FESCo interview (Dec 17, 2025) falls in the transition period
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- Advocated for the birthDate implementation in PR #40954 while transitioning to Amutable
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- Did not disclose Amutable affiliation when advocating for the change
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Sources:
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- https://www.redhat.com/en/authors/zbigniew-jedrzejewski-szmek
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- https://github.com/keszybz
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- https://communityblog.fedoraproject.org/f43-fesco-elections-zbyszek/
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- https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/f43-fesco-elections-interview-with-zbigniew-jedrzejewski-szmek-zbyszek/177411
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- https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Zbyszek
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### Kay Sievers - Formerly Red Hat (until 2019)
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- Co-creator of systemd alongside Poettering
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- Previously at Novell, then Red Hat until 2019
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- Developed udev (device manager) and Gummiboot (EFI bootloader)
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- Banned from submitting Linux kernel patches by Linus Torvalds in April 2014
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- No longer active in systemd governance
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Sources:
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- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kay_Sievers
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- https://www.networkworld.com/article/2175826/linus-torvalds-suspends-key-linux-developer.html
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### Timothee Ravier - CoreOS co-Team Lead, Red Hat (current)
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- GitHub: travier
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- CoreOS engineer at Red Hat since at least July 2022
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- Works on Fedora CoreOS and RHEL CoreOS
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- Works on systemd system extensions (sysexts)
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- Maintainer of Fedora Atomic Desktops
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- Elected to FESCo in F43 elections alongside Zbigniew
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- Active in All Systems Go conference
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- Still at Red Hat as of 2026
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Sources:
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- https://github.com/travier
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- https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/f43-fesco-elections-interview-with-timothee-ravier-siosm-travier/177403
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### Red Hat Plumbers Team (GitHub organization)
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- GitHub org: redhat-plumbers
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- Maintains downstream RHEL/CentOS Stream versions of systemd, dracut, util-linux
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- Internal Red Hat team responsible for systemd in RHEL
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Source: https://github.com/redhat-plumbers
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---
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## 3. Red Hat Employees and PR #40954 / PR #41179
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### Direct participants identified:
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Zbigniew Jedrzejewski-Szmek (keszybz) - Red Hat → Amutable. Advocated for the birthDate field in PR #40954. Transitioning from Red Hat to Amutable at the time (exact date unclear, GitHub showed Amutable by late 2025/early 2026). Did not disclose Amutable affiliation. The only identified Red Hat (current or former) employee who participated directly in the PR.
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People who are not Red Hat:
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- Dylan M. Taylor (dylanmtaylor) - PR author - Credit Genie (Khosla Ventures fintech)
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- Luca Boccassi (bluca) - merged the PR - Microsoft
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- Lennart Poettering (poettering) - blocked the revert - Amutable (ex-Microsoft, ex-Red Hat)
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- paramazo - submitted revert PR #41179 - unknown affiliation
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### Notable absence:
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Yu Watanabe (Red Hat's most active current systemd committer) - no participation in PR #40954 or #41179. No official Red Hat statement on the birthDate merge identified.
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---
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## 4. Red Hat Employees Who Moved to Amutable or Microsoft's Linux Team
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### Red Hat → Microsoft:
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| Person | Role at Red Hat | When Left | Microsoft Role |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| Lennart Poettering | Senior Principal Engineer | July 2022 | systemd developer |
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### Red Hat → Amutable (direct):
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| Person | Role at Red Hat | When Left | Amutable Role |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| Zbigniew Jedrzejewski-Szmek | Plumbers Team, systemd upstream + Fedora systemd | Late 2025/early 2026 | Founding engineer |
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### Red Hat → Microsoft → Amutable:
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| Person | Red Hat Role | Left RH | Left MS | Amutable Role |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Lennart Poettering | Senior Principal Engineer | July 2022 | Jan 2026 | Chief Engineer |
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### Full Amutable team provenance:
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| Person | Amutable Role | Previous Employer(s) | Red Hat Connection |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| Lennart Poettering | Chief Engineer | Red Hat → Microsoft | 14 years at Red Hat |
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| Christian Brauner | CTO | Canonical → Microsoft | None |
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| Chris Kuhl | CEO | Kinvolk → Microsoft | None (Flatcar forked CoreOS after Red Hat acquired CoreOS) |
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| David Strauss | CPO | Pantheon (co-founder/CTO) | None |
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| Zbigniew Jedrzejewski-Szmek | Engineer | Red Hat | Direct hire from Red Hat |
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| Daan De Meyer | Engineer | Meta | None |
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| Kai Luke | Engineer | Kinvolk → Microsoft | None |
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| Joaquim Rocha | Engineer | Red Hat → Kinvolk → Microsoft | Former Red Hat employee |
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| Aleksa Sarai | Engineer | SUSE | None |
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| Michael Vogt | Engineer | Canonical | None |
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| Rodrigo Campos Catelin | Engineer | Microsoft (Kubernetes) | None |
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3 of 11 Amutable personnel have Red Hat backgrounds (Poettering, Zbigniew, Joaquim Rocha).
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---
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## 5. Red Hat's Historical Role in systemd Governance
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### No formal governance structure exists
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systemd has never had a formal governance body, steering committee, or conflict-of-interest policy. Red Hat never exercised formal oversight despite employing its creator for 14 years, employing multiple core maintainers (Zbigniew, Yu Watanabe, formerly Kay Sievers), being the first major distribution to adopt it (Fedora 15, May 2011), and making it the default in RHEL 7 (June 2014).
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### De facto influence through employment
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Red Hat's influence operated through employing key developers, not through formal governance:
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- 2010-2022: Poettering and Sievers at Red Hat controlled systemd direction
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- 2013 (FOSDEM interview): 15 people had commit access "from various backgrounds including Debian, Arch Linux, Red Hat folks"
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- 2025 (FOSDEM presentation): 6 core maintainers, 60 people with commit access
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- Red Hat's Plumbers Team maintains downstream RHEL/CentOS Stream systemd
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### Sovereign Tech Fund, not Red Hat, provides financial sponsorship
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The German Sovereign Tech Fund (now Sovereign Tech Agency) provides external funding for systemd maintenance. STF earmarked funds for systemd into 2026. Total STF investment: ~EUR 23.5M across 60+ open source projects by late 2024.
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Sources:
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- https://archive.fosdem.org/2013/interviews/2013-lennart-poettering/
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- https://archive.fosdem.org/2025/events/attachments/fosdem-2025-6648-14-years-of-systemd/slides/238151/14_Years_cfrZhmg.pdf
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- https://www.sovereign.tech/tech/systemd-2025
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---
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## 6. Fedora's Relationship to systemd Decisions
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### Fedora as systemd's proving ground
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- Fedora 15 (May 2011): first major distro to enable systemd by default (replacing Upstart)
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- RHEL 7 (June 2014): based on Fedora 18/19, inherited systemd as default init
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- Pattern: systemd features land in Fedora first, then propagate to RHEL → CentOS → downstream rebuilds
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### FESCo (Fedora Engineering Steering Committee)
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- Community-elected body managing technical features of Fedora
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- Can override Working Group decisions
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- Zbigniew Jedrzejewski-Szmek sits on FESCo (elected F43, January 2026)
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- Timothee Ravier also elected to FESCo in the same F43 cycle
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- At least one Amutable employee holds a seat on the body that governs Fedora's technical direction, including systemd integration
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### No FESCo action on birthDate identified
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- No FESCo formal discussion or vote on the birthDate field found
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- 9to5Linux reported distros (Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint) "discussing" age verification but "no decision was taken by any distro"
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- Red Hat has made no public statement on the birthDate merge
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### Conflict of interest
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Zbigniew sits on FESCo (Fedora's technical governance) while employed by Amutable (which has commercial interest in systemd identity infrastructure). When Fedora must decide whether to ship the birthDate field, an Amutable employee will vote. No disclosure requirement exists.
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Sources:
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- https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/systemd
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- https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/f43-fesco-elections-interview-with-zbigniew-jedrzejewski-szmek-zbyszek/177411
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- https://9to5linux.com/ubuntu-fedora-linux-mint-eye-age-verification-amid-california-law-backlash
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- https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FESCO
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---
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## 7. Red Hat Employees in the UAPI Group
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### UAPI Group membership
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The UAPI Group lists contributing members from: Ubuntu Core, Debian, GNOME OS, Fedora CoreOS, Endless OS, Arch Linux, SUSE, Flatcar, systemd, image-builder/osbuild, mkosi, tpm2-software, System Transparency, buildstream, BTRFS, bootc, composefs, (rpm-)ostree, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta.
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Red Hat is not listed by corporate name, but Fedora CoreOS is listed - and Red Hat employs the Fedora CoreOS team (Timothee Ravier et al.).
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### Red Hat-affiliated UAPI participation:
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| Person | Red Hat Role | UAPI Connection |
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| Timothee Ravier | CoreOS co-Team Lead | Fedora CoreOS is a listed UAPI member project |
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| Zbigniew Jedrzejewski-Szmek | Formerly Plumbers Team | systemd is a listed UAPI member; he was/is a systemd maintainer |
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| Lennart Poettering | Formerly Senior Principal Engineer | Co-founded UAPI Group (with Boccassi and Brauner) |
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### UAPI Group governance
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Founded by Poettering, Boccassi, and Brauner - the same three individuals who controlled the birthDate merge. Functions as a Free Software project: anyone can submit comments, every maintainer can merge if they have expertise, one non-author approval required. Two of three founders (Poettering, Brauner) now at Amutable; one (Boccassi) still at Microsoft.
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Sources:
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- https://uapi-group.org/
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- https://github.com/uapi-group
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---
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## 8. Red Hat's Brain Drain to Amutable - Timeline
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Red Hat has experienced ongoing layoffs under IBM ownership (acquired 2019):
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```
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2019: Kay Sievers leaves Red Hat (systemd co-creator)
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2022 Jul: Lennart Poettering leaves Red Hat for Microsoft (systemd creator, 14 years)
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2024-2025: IBM/Red Hat layoffs - "8,000-10,000 positions" (Sep 2024), "5,000-7,000" (Mar 2025)
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Late 2025: Zbigniew Jedrzejewski-Szmek leaves Red Hat for Amutable
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2026: Red Hat layoffs expected to continue
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```
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### Net effect on Red Hat's systemd influence:
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- Lost: Poettering (creator/BDFL), Zbigniew (3rd most active contributor, FESCo member), Kay Sievers (co-creator)
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- Retained: Yu Watanabe (top committer since 2021), Timothee Ravier (CoreOS/sysexts), Plumbers Team (downstream RHEL maintenance)
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- Red Hat no longer employs any of the people who control merge/revert decisions. Merge power moved from Red Hat (2010-2022) to Microsoft (2022-2026) to Amutable (2026-present).
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---
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## 9. All Systems Go Conference - Red Hat's Role
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The All Systems Go conference (formerly systemd.conf) connects Red Hat personnel to the broader systemd governance network:
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- Red Hat was a 2019 sponsor
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- Zbigniew spoke at ASG 2024 and 2025 (while still at Red Hat / transitioning to Amutable)
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- Timothee Ravier (Red Hat) has participated
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- Chris Kuhl (Amutable CEO, formerly Kinvolk/Microsoft) organizes the conference
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Source: https://cfp.all-systems-go.io/
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---
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## Summary of Key Findings
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1. Lennart Poettering worked at Red Hat from 2008 to July 2022, rising from Senior Software Engineer to Senior Principal Engineer. He left for Microsoft, then co-founded Amutable in January 2026.
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2. Red Hat still has systemd contributors - Yu Watanabe is the single most active committer (since 2021) and Timothee Ravier works on systemd sysexts. Red Hat lost its two most influential systemd figures (Poettering and Zbigniew) to Amutable.
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3. Zbigniew Jedrzejewski-Szmek is the critical node. He left Red Hat for Amutable while simultaneously advocating for the birthDate field in PR #40954, sitting on Fedora's FESCo governance committee, and maintaining ~70 Fedora packages. He holds a position of trust in Fedora's governance while employed by a company with commercial interest in systemd identity metadata.
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4. No Red Hat employee who commented on PR #40954 or #41179 acted in a Red Hat capacity. The merge was executed by a Microsoft employee (Boccassi) and defended by an Amutable employee (Poettering). Zbigniew advocated but had already transitioned or was transitioning to Amutable.
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5. Red Hat never had formal governance over systemd. Control operated through employment of key developers. As those developers moved to Microsoft and then Amutable, Red Hat's influence diminished despite being the distro most dependent on systemd (RHEL, CentOS Stream, Fedora).
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6. Red Hat has not made any public statement about the birthDate merge, despite shipping systemd in all its products and employing FESCo members who would decide Fedora's adoption.
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7. Three of eleven Amutable team members have Red Hat backgrounds (Poettering, Zbigniew, Joaquim Rocha). Red Hat is the second-largest source of Amutable talent after Microsoft (six members).
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8. The UAPI Group has indirect Red Hat representation through Fedora CoreOS (Timothee Ravier), but its three founders (Poettering, Boccassi, Brauner) all left or bypassed Red Hat for Amutable/Microsoft.
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