Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 18:29:26 -0400 From: Xiao-Yong Jin <xj2106@columbia.edu> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Gotta start somewhere ... how many of us are really out there? Message-ID: <871ws1v261.fsf@photon.homelinux.org> In-Reply-To: <44CE7DD0.9070902@childeric.freeserve.co.uk> (Chris Whitehouse's message of "Mon, 31 Jul 2006 23:01:52 %2B0100") References: <20060728164526.E27679@ganymede.hub.org> <df9ac37c0607281319s5da0f64ese5fa57df1ef11a4d@mail.gmail.com> <ef10de9a0607282139i51fdde5ch58525fa3347364d2@mail.gmail.com> <87slklj9hu.fsf@photon.homelinux.org> <20060729021007.F27679@ganymede.hub.org> <44CD41EC.6030605@freebsd.org> <20060730233839.I27679@ganymede.hub.org> <44CDAA98.3030702@freebsd.org> <44CDE02F.4090604@dial.pipex.com> <44CE7DD0.9070902@childeric.freeserve.co.uk>
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Chris Whitehouse <chris@childeric.freeserve.co.uk> writes: > Alex Zbyslaw wrote: >> Counting portsnap and cvsup accesses is non-intrusive - i.e. nothing >> sent from local host - will count systems from any version of >> FreeBSD, but will never count everything because sites with multiple >> hosts may easily have local propagation mechanisms. But you will >> get an order of magnitude. However, how do you deal with systems >> with variable IPs? I don't know enough about the internals of >> either portsnap or cvsup to know if there is some kind of unique id >> associated with hosts. If not, then you'd wildly over count for >> many home-based, variable IP systems. > > Maybe not so many, my non-static ip hasn't changed since I signed up 3 > years ago despite turning off the modem for the odd day or > two. Another network I look after also hasn't changed in a year. > But one can't rely on that. You'll definitely see more than one ip associated with my laptop, if I move it around. A more reliable way that I can think of is generating a unique ID number when a system finishes installation or upon the first boot. However, it may involve some additional privacy problem. What do you think? -- Xiao-Yong
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