An RFC has now entered Final Comment Period. In 14 days, discussion will end and the proposal will either be accepted, rejected or withdrawn: https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/rfcs/-/merge_requests/59 Please visit the above link for discussion. Summary: """ Introduce a centralized, hardware backed solution for the digital signing of OS artifacts. Gradually replace the need for manual signing of artifacts throughout the distribution. The stepwise plan in this document will eventually lead to changes for the following existing roles within Arch Linux staff: - _Package maintainers_ will no longer sign packages using their individual OpenPGP private key. - The amount of OpenPGP certificates for _main signing key holders_ to care for will be drastically reduced. - The _DevOps team_ will have to monitor and administrate additional physical machines. New groups of people within Arch Linux staff will - collectively take care of the administrative credentials for the described system as _holders of shares of a shared secret_, - provide software upgrades for components of the system as _developers of Signstar_ - and create releases for a central, image-based OS as _developers of Signstar OS_. For details refer to the section **changes for users and staff**. """