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Why would a collective like Debian or Ubuntu need to know what packages are the most installed? I know Ubuntu has their own App Store, is it perhaps to show whi

• jraph 6y ago
  It helps deciding on priority (bug fixes) or whether a package is worth maintaining or keeping in the distribution even if it costs time or prevent some (library) upgrades, improvements or refactorings that would break it. As a software writer, it motivates me to know that my software is used and that putting effort in maintaining it will help people. For instance, I made a small Firefox extension that requires regular updates by design. Seeing that it was installed on a hundred browsers has motivated me to maintain it. If it was just for me, I probably wouldn't have bothered so much even though this extension scratched a personal itch. As a user, I am a bit reluctant to being tracked so a balance must be found. Edit: the amount of downloads from the archives is not enough. Some packages are downloaded again and again by automated systems like continuous integration systems and a downloaded package can be uninstalled immediately and this would be imperfectly detected.
  • tinus_hn 6y ago
    Perhaps when making the choice you could tell the user their problems will get more priority if they opt in. Also using differential privacy you can gather statistics on package use while limiting knowledge about a specific user.
• crb 6y ago
  They used to put the most popular 650mb of packages on a CD.