Subject: bug#35551: guix search

From: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 11 May 2019 01:41:31 +0200

Bruno Haible wrote:
> Mark H Weaver wrote:
>> If we add functionality that calls out to the network in 
>> response to a
>> package search, e.g. to query popularity ratings or package 
>> file
>> listings, we should make sure the user knows it's happening, 
>> and provide
>> a way to disable it.  Some users may not want information about 
>> their
>> package searches to be leaked to the outside world.
>
> Good point.
>
> Would it be more acceptable, upon 'guix search', to download an 
> incremental
> update of a package popularity database, and do the search 
> locally? This
> way, only the fact that the user has been doing a 'guix search' 
> would be
> leaked to the outside world, not the search term.

I don't think Mark intended to present it as a good idea at all… 
;-)

Popularity is irrelevant to search relevance.

Kind regards,

T G-R