I'd like to talk about adding an randomized, rotating UUID to DNF and
rpm-ostree updates which we could use to better count installed
systems. The IP-based counting we currently use is deeply flawed, and
we'd really benefit from getting more accurate numbers.
This would
* let us make better strategic decisions based on our actual base of
installed systems, and
* help us demostrate growth and impact to various sponsors.
To be completely candid: this would be incredibly useful as I advocate
for Fedora within Red Hat, but no one @redhat has directed me to ask
for it. And its *not* just Red Hat — this would be useful in talking to
our various hardware partners too and other potential sponsors.
Long ago, we had Smolt, but this was opt-in and didn't present a very
complete picture. I'd like to propose we do something similar to what
openSUSE describes here:
https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Statistics.
That is: A completely random UUID used only for this purpose, and used
for counting rather than tracking.
We could refresh the UUID periodically (like monthly) to ensure that
long-term tracking wouldn't even be an option (while still
distinguishing between short-lived cloud or test instances). And of
course there would be some way to opt out.
Recently Canonical has implemented a much greater amount of data
collection
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2018-February/040139.html,
and while maybe we might want to look at reviving an opt-in system, I
don't think we need that right now. (Historically, we've had a lot of
resistance to similar proposals as opt-out, and the value of opt-in is
low.)
Basically, all I want is that UUID plus CPU arch plus ID, VERSION_ID,
and VARIANT_ID from /etc/os-release. (And, I'd also like to start using
VARIANT_ID for labs, spins, docker images, etc.)
What do you think? Does the suggested plan make sense?
--
Matthew Miller
<mattdm(a)fedoraproject.org>
Fedora Project Leader