On how many system Fedora is running?

[rgerhards]

Hi all,

I am the author of rsyslog, the now-default logging daemon on Fedora. I have thought a bit on how many systems rsyslog is installed, and came to the conclusion that Fedora currently is the major source of installations. Then, I looked at the Fedora metrics and interpreted them according to what I read and my understanding. I came to the conclusion that around 5 million systems run F8 or above (this is where rsyslog is default).

I have blogged about all that and would appreciate if someone with more insight could comment on my thoughs (the basic question is: are my assumptions right?).

The blog post is available here:

http://blog.gerhards.net/2009/01/how...installed.html

I appreciate all feedback!

Many thanks,
Rainer

[ihavenoname]

hmm..5 million. I dunno. Is there a particular reason besides curiosity why you are looking into this? I would say at least 5 million. With Lenny getting it soon I would expect that number to be very very low given the number of spin offs from fedora and from Debian. Now some of those people may have switched loggers but who knows. It's a difficult thing metrics. Especially for non-internet based things. Perhaps we could have a smolt like thing for applications, along with a survey detaling a users overall happiness with their setup. That way we can see where the linux community is in terms of preferences.

[rgerhards]

Well, it is basically curiosity, raised by some press questions (these folks like numbers...). It is by far not a real requirement to know the deployment count. All in all, most of those n million users will never know they run rsyslog. So to me, the most important number is users actively using its capabilities (and requesting enhancements, filing bug reports etc...). But PR likes the big numbers

Thanks for the feedback!
Rainer

[ihavenoname]

No problem! Hey, the way I see it, if they don't know much about it then it is doing what it is supposed to be . When end users find out about rsyslog then something somewhere has gone wrong.

[rgerhards]

jepp [exception are the heavy logging guys, who really need to logs for compliance and such...]

[ihavenoname]

Originally Posted by rgerhards

jepp [exception are the heavy logging guys, who really need to logs for compliance and such...]

Are we counting those guys now?

[scottro]

Hrrm,
I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK
I look at my logs all day.

Naw, doesn't have the same ring to it.

[ihavenoname]

haha I can't believe I missed the pun.