Re: Distribution statistics for ELPA and EMMS

[Yoni Rabkin]

Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net> writes:

> Eduardo Ochs <eduardoochs@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> On Thu, 13 Jul 2023 at 17:55, Yoni Rabkin <yoni@rabkins.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> I want to start the talk with the claim that Emms is a popular music and
>>> video package for Emacs. However, I have absolutely no numbers or
>>> statistics to back that claim. Is there a way to find out? Are any
>>> statistics collected by ELPA?
>>>
>>> Is there a way to answer the question: how many times was Emms installed
>>> in 2022?
>>
>> Hey, thanks for asking that!
>>
>> I'm the author of an Emacs package that is in ELPA and that I don't
>> have any idea how many users it has - I mean, besides the ones that
>> I've interacted with - and I was planning to start my talk about it
>> in the next EmacsConf by saying that it has "at least 10 users"... =/
>
> Then again, if you go by download counts like MELPA, you will severely
> overestimate the number of users, since AFAIK they do not distinguish
> between downloads and updates, nor do they know if someone just
> installed a package and then immediately removed it.

I don't think that's important since we are not selling copies of the
software, nor trying to drive advertisement. Instead, what I had in mind
is a way of gauging activity. I'm thinking simply of the number of
installs and/or updates, even if that number is normalized to the most
"active" package.

A developer who wants insight could visit the ELPA page for their
package once in a while, note the change in the numbers, and draw their
own conclusions.

I think that seeing your package being installed and/or updated would be
a great way of encouraging people to continue developing. Developers,
especially of niche packages, could otherwise feel like they are "vox
clamantis in deserto"; shouting into a great empty wilderness.


> There was some discussion about updating the protocol that package.el
> uses, in which context thinking about some reliable yet privacy
> preserving method of estimating the user count would be nice to have.

I see no pressing reason to identify unique downloads as opposed to
simply downloads/updates, so I don't think privacy will be a concern.

Currently we have two developers who have voiced that they would like
this feature in ELPA. Perhaps if others chime in then it should be
considered.


-- 
   "Cut your own wood and it will warm you twice"