From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jul 31 22:29:33 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0D16D16A4DA for ; Mon, 31 Jul 2006 22:29:33 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from xj2106@columbia.edu) Received: from jalapeno.cc.columbia.edu (jalapeno.cc.columbia.edu [128.59.29.5]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 87CCC43D5F for ; Mon, 31 Jul 2006 22:29:32 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from xj2106@columbia.edu) Received: from photon.homelinux.org (dyn-carl-201-40.dyn.columbia.edu [160.39.201.40]) (user=xj2106 mech=PLAIN bits=0) by jalapeno.cc.columbia.edu (8.13.7/8.13.6) with ESMTP id k6VMTQMT005740 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT) for ; Mon, 31 Jul 2006 18:29:31 -0400 (EDT) To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <20060728164526.E27679@ganymede.hub.org> <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> From: Xiao-Yong Jin Mail-Followup-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 18:29:26 -0400 In-Reply-To: <44CE7DD0.9070902@childeric.freeserve.co.uk> (Chris Whitehouse's message of "Mon, 31 Jul 2006 23:01:52 +0100") Message-ID: <871ws1v261.fsf@photon.homelinux.org> User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/23.0.0 (gnu/linux) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-No-Spam-Score: Local X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.48 on 128.59.29.5 Subject: Re: Gotta start somewhere ... how many of us are really out there? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 22:29:33 -0000 Chris Whitehouse 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