Public SourceMage Discussion List

[Paul Mahon <dufflebunk AT dufflebunk.homeip.net>]

We could do a one shot thing where the sorcery ./install asks the user
for permission to send the state files to a server, if so, it makes some
file in /tmp and sends the stuff. Sure, the /tmp file might be removed,
so it might not be 100% accurate, but just have the modified install do
this for a week or two, just to get a sample. The sent data could also
include a hash of the host name to weed out duplicates.

Of course, the results will be skewed in that they will reflect more
people who frequently update, rather than the people who only update
occasionally.

On Mon, 2005-14-02 at 13:15 -0800, Andrew wrote:
> > 
> > I have been a relatively quiet user of sourcemage for quite a while now.
> > I have 4 machines happily running it, including a departmental
> > server.
> > 
> > The rating system mentioned is very interesting.  I dislike using the
> > number of times it is downloaded, but this raising a possibility, that
> > I want to put out there even if everyone says horrible idea we won't
> > do it.
> > 
> > Question: How popular is each package?  On what fraction of machines
> > is a particular package running(maybe broken down by version)?  This
> > might be useful information not just for games, but for those gurus, and
> > project leaders who have to allocate time and resources on different
> > problems.
> > 
> > Possible Solution: If it is possible to keep track of what has been cast,
> > can we keep track of what has been dispelled also?
> > 
> > Obviously a guru looking to fix a bug should start with a package 
> > used by 80% of the machines than a bug in a package that is only used 
> > by 8% of the machines, unless there is some more pressing reason (like
> > their personal machine is one of the 8%...)
> > 
> > Anyway this may be too big brother-ish, and might require too much
> > processing and communication from a central server, but just a thought,
> > as some of the packages I might be willing to try out if everyone else is
> > running them..  Keep up the good work everyone, as I am proud of the 
> > work you have put in.
> > 
> 
> I think its a good idea so long as its kept on a volunteer only basis
> and that we do everything possible to anonymize who sends the data. I
> think a while ago we had an idea similar to this, but more for recording
> the results of automated build testing so we'd have an idea how often
> something built or failed to build, but thats a slightly different
> problem. What we could do is have each user who wanted to participate
> signup and they'll be given a unique identifier, then they can submit
> their listing as often as they wish with that identifier (so we can
> invalidate their previous submission). The format could be their
> /var/state/sorcery/packages file or something, that at least specifies
> whats currently on the system which i think is better than if someone
> installs something, doesnt like it and removes it. If a file sent to
> us too old we can invalidate it. It could be just a static html page
> with the number of times something is installed and the number of total
> entries we have to go from.
> 
> Although maybe the whole unique id thing would be too much of a barrier of
> entry, Im just anxious of someone requesting the users who are using some
> piece of software so they can go after them for possibly pirating it or
> something, or maybe using something that prohibited in their country.
> 
> -Andrew
> 
> PS Wow, a departmental Harvard Med School server! Our code, in Harvard, 
> cool! :-)
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> SM-Discuss mailing list
> SM-Discuss AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/sm-discuss
>

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part