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Homebrew 4.0.0

brew.sh

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Re: Homebrew 4.0.0

#2
> Homebrew’s analytics are now sent both to Google Analytics and our new, self-hosted InfluxDB instance hosted in the EU.

> If you had previously set HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS because you didn’t like Google Analytics and/or data being sent to the USA: please consider unsetting this and setting HOMEBREW_NO_GOOGLE_ANALYTICS instead, allowing analytics data to be sent to our new InfluxDB host.

My package manager was reporting my actions to Google and I didn’t even know about that. Great…

Re: Homebrew 4.0.0

#3
post #2

> Homebrew’s analytics are now sent both to Google Analytics and our new, self-hosted InfluxDB instance hosted in the EU. > If you had previously set HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS because you didn’t like Google Analytics and/or data being sent to the USA: please consider unsetting this and setting HOMEBREW_NO_GOOGLE_ANALYTICS instead, allowing analytics data to be sent to our new InfluxDB host. My package manager was reporti…

In your .bashrc or similar: export HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS=1

Re: Homebrew 4.0.0

#4
post #2

> Homebrew’s analytics are now sent both to Google Analytics and our new, self-hosted InfluxDB instance hosted in the EU. > If you had previously set HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS because you didn’t like Google Analytics and/or data being sent to the USA: please consider unsetting this and setting HOMEBREW_NO_GOOGLE_ANALYTICS instead, allowing analytics data to be sent to our new InfluxDB host. My package manager was reporti…

Why don't they just use something like plausible for this? I switch to plausible for all my analytics and it works great.

https://plausible.io/

Re: Homebrew 4.0.0

#5
post #3
post #2

> Homebrew’s analytics are now sent both to Google Analytics and our new, self-hosted InfluxDB instance hosted in the EU. > If you had previously set HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS because you didn’t like Google Analytics and/or data being sent to the USA: please consider unsetting this and setting HOMEBREW_NO_GOOGLE_ANALYTICS instead, allowing analytics data to be sent to our new InfluxDB host. My package manager was reporti…

In your .bashrc or similar: export HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS=1

That’s not the point. I don’t want any software sending analytics unless I specifically allowed it.

Re: Homebrew 4.0.0

#6
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In your .bashrc or similar: export HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS=1

That’s not the point. I don’t want any software sending analytics unless I specifically allowed it.

Then you can either: 1) don't use the software 2) analyze the software source code to understand what it does before using it

I tend and prefer to assume good-will WRT telemetry in well-known and independent opensource projects.

Re: Homebrew 4.0.0

#7
I use homebrew like a black box. I’m glad it exists, but I have no idea how it works and why it’s so complicated. When something breaks and Google is no help I just nuke it and start from scratch.

It’s only happened twice in more than a decade, but I still have the feeling that I was better off compiling stuff manually and cultivating a tidy /usr/local/bin like I did in early 2000s. But it’s probably rose-colored glasses and I’d definitively never take the time these days.

Re: Homebrew 4.0.0

#8
post #2

> Homebrew’s analytics are now sent both to Google Analytics and our new, self-hosted InfluxDB instance hosted in the EU. > If you had previously set HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS because you didn’t like Google Analytics and/or data being sent to the USA: please consider unsetting this and setting HOMEBREW_NO_GOOGLE_ANALYTICS instead, allowing analytics data to be sent to our new InfluxDB host. My package manager was reporti…

They'd be well advised to make this opt-in only for legal reasons. This is not going to go down well in a lot of places and they might get exposed to law suits.

Re: Homebrew 4.0.0

#9
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In your .bashrc or similar: export HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS=1

That’s not the point. I don’t want any software sending analytics unless I specifically allowed it.

You know, as the law requires in the EU

Re: Homebrew 4.0.0

#10
post #2

> Homebrew’s analytics are now sent both to Google Analytics and our new, self-hosted InfluxDB instance hosted in the EU. > If you had previously set HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS because you didn’t like Google Analytics and/or data being sent to the USA: please consider unsetting this and setting HOMEBREW_NO_GOOGLE_ANALYTICS instead, allowing analytics data to be sent to our new InfluxDB host. My package manager was reporti…

Why don't they just use something like plausible for this? I switch to plausible for all my analytics and it works great. https://plausible.io/

Whilst Plausible does look great, one of their main goals, as I understand it, is to focus on simple core analytics for websites, not general-purpose do-it-all analytics for everything.

If you're not a website, and so your metrics are arbitrary events with metadata instead of page views, this tends to quickly run into awkward mess.

Self hosting an InfluxDB to capture core metrics seems like a good solution that avoids privacy concerns without being too complex imo.

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