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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
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<head>
<link rev="made" href="mailto:esr@snark.thyrsus.com" />
<meta name="description"
content="Fetchmail participation statistics" />
<meta name="keywords" content="fetchmail, growth, analysis" />
<title>Trends in the fetchmail project's growth</title>
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<body>
<table width="100%" cellpadding="0" summary="Canned page header">
<tr>
<td width="30%">Back to <a href="/~esr">Eric's Home Page</a></td>
<td width="30%" align="center">Up to <a href="/~esr/sitemap.html">Site Map</a></td>
<td width="30%" align="right">$Date: 2002/09/09 07:24:37 $</td>
</tr>
</table>

<hr />
<h1 class="c1">Trends in the fetchmail project's growth</h1>

<p>The scattergram below was made with Gnuplot 3.7 from data pulled
directly out of the project NEWS file using two custom
shellscripts, <a href="timeseries">timeseries</a> and <a
href="growthplot">growthplot</a>. If you see a broken-image icon,
upgrade to a <a
href="http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/pngapbr.html">browser that can
view PNGs</a>.</p>

<div class="c2"><img src="growth.png"
alt="Fetchmail trends graph" /></div>

<p>The graph shows the population growth of the fetchmail project.
The horizontal scale is days since baseline, which is when I
started collecting statistics in October 1996 at version 1.9.0.
Left vertical scale is number of participants. There is one data
point for each release; therefore, the changes in density of marks
indicate release frequency.</p>

<p>The peak in the earliest part of the graph (before the note "Bad
addresses dropped") seems to be an artifact; I was not regularly
dropping addresses that became invalid at the time. Turnover on the
list seems to be about 5% per month (but that's just my estimate, I
don't have numbers on this).</p>

<p>The <span class="c3">blue scatter of squares</span> is total
participants. The <span class="c4">green scatter of crosses</span>
is the count of people on fetchmail-friends after I split the list.
The <span class="c5">cyan scatter of diamonds</span> is the
population of fetchmail-announce after the split.</p>

<p>The <span class="c6">brown scatter of diamonds</span> tracks
project size in lines of code (right vertical axis). The scale
relationship between this scatter and the other three is
arbitrary.</p>

<p>This graph is quite revealing. Several trends stand out:</p>

<ul>
<li>
<p>Over time, the project population displays rather consistent
linear growth.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>The key event in the project's lifetime was release 4.3.0 in
October 1997, when I declared the code to be out of development and
in maintainance mode, and split the fetchmail list.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>The run-up to 4.3.0 saw the most intensive spate of releases in
the project's history (the gap in that run happened when I took a
two-week vacation). It was followed by a significant slowdown.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>After 4.3.0, the developer population remained fairly stable
around an average of about 250 participants.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>Essentially all population growth after 4.3.0 happened on the
announce list, among people using fetchmail but not active
co-developers.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>The growth trend in code size looks sublinear, perhaps
logarithmic.</p>
</li>
</ul>

<p>The linear growth trend in population is particularly
interesting; a priori we might expect geometric or logistic growth,
given that the project spreads by word of mouth.</p>

<p>It has been suggested that the linear growth rate is the result
of a situation in which both number of projects and the population
of eligible programmers are rising on trend curves of the same
(probably exponential) rate.</p>

<p>There are some other pages doing similar things:</p>

<ul>
<li>
<p><a href="http://kitenet.net/programs/debhelper/stats/">Here</a>
are growth statistics on the debhelper packaging utility.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p><a href="http://durak.org:81/sean/pubs/kfc/">Here</a> is a page
on the vocabulary of the Linux kernel.</p>
</li>
</ul>

<hr />
<table width="100%" cellpadding="0" summary="Canned page header">
<tr>
<td width="30%">Back to <a href="/~esr">Eric's Home Page</a></td>
<td width="30%" align="center">Up to <a href="/~esr/sitemap.html">Site Map</a></td>
<td width="30%" align="right">$Date: 2002/09/09 07:24:37 $</td>
</tr>
</table>

<br clear="left" />
<address>Eric S. Raymond <a
href="mailto:esr@thyrsus.com">&lt;esr@thyrsus.com&gt;</a></address>
</body>
</html>
generated by cgit v1.2.3 (git 2.46.0) at 2026-06-30 09:14:55 +0000
se debugging */ /* daemon mode control */ int poll_interval; /* poll interval in seconds */ char *logfile; /* log file for daemon mode */ int quitmode; /* if --quit was set */ /* miscellaneous global controls */ char *rcfile; /* path name of rc file */ int versioninfo; /* emit only version info */ /********************************************************************* function: main description: main driver routine arguments: argc argument count as passed by runtime startup code. argv argument strings as passed by runtime startup code. return value: an exit status code for the shell -- see the PS_.* constants defined above. calls: parsecmdline, setdefaults, openuserfolder, doPOP2. globals: none. *********************************************************************/ static void termhook(); static char *lockfile; static int popstatus; static struct hostrec *hostp; main (argc,argv) int argc; char **argv; { int mboxfd, st; struct hostrec def_opts; int parsestatus, implicitmode; char *servername, *user, *home, *tmpdir, tmpbuf[BUFSIZ]; FILE *lockfp; pid_t pid; memset(&def_opts, '\0', sizeof(struct hostrec)); if ((user = getenv("USER")) == (char *)NULL) user = getenv("LOGNAME"); if ((user == (char *)NULL) || (home = getenv("HOME")) == (char *)NULL) { struct passwd *pw; if ((pw = getpwuid(getuid())) != NULL) { user = pw->pw_name; home = pw->pw_dir; } else { fprintf(stderr,"I can't find your name and home directory!\n"); exit(PS_UNDEFINED); } } def_opts.protocol = P_AUTO; strcpy(def_opts.remotename, user); strcpy(def_opts.smtphost, "localhost"); /* * Backward-compatibility hack. If we're called by the name of the * ancestral popclient, look for .poprc. This will actually work * for popclient files that don't use the removed keywords. */ if (strcmp("popclient", argv[0]) == 0) tmpdir = ".poprc"; else tmpdir = ".fetchmailrc"; rcfile = (char *) xmalloc(strlen(home)+strlen(tmpdir)+2); strcpy(rcfile, home); strcat(rcfile, "/"); strcat(rcfile, tmpdir); outlevel = O_NORMAL; if ((parsestatus = parsecmdline(argc,argv,&cmd_opts)) < 0) exit(PS_SYNTAX); if (versioninfo) showversioninfo(); /* this builds the host list */ if (prc_parse_file(rcfile) != 0) exit(PS_SYNTAX); if (implicitmode = (optind >= argc)) { for (hostp = hostlist; hostp; hostp = hostp->next) hostp->active = TRUE; } else for (; optind < argc; optind++) { /* * If hostname corresponds to a host known from the rc file, * simply declare it active. Otherwise synthesize a host * record from command line and defaults */ for (hostp = hostlist; hostp; hostp = hostp->next) if (strcmp(hostp->servername, argv[optind]) == 0) goto foundit; hostp = hostalloc(&cmd_opts); strcpy(hostp->servername, argv[optind]); foundit: hostp->active = TRUE; } /* if there's a defaults record, merge it and lose it */ if (hostlist && strcmp(hostlist->servername, "defaults") == 0) { for (hostp = hostlist; hostp; hostp = hostp->next) optmerge(hostp, hostlist); hostlist = hostlist->next; } /* don't allow a defaults record after the first */ for (hostp = hostlist; hostp; hostp = hostp->next) if (strcmp(hostp->servername, "defaults") == 0) exit(PS_SYNTAX); /* merge in wired defaults, do sanity checks and prepare internal fields */ for (hostp = hostlist; hostp; hostp = hostp->next) if (hostp->active && !(implicitmode && hostp->skip)) { /* merge in defaults */ optmerge(hostp, &def_opts); /* if rc file didn't supply a localname, default appropriately */ if (!hostp->localname[0]) strcpy(hostp->localname, hostp->remotename); /* sanity checks */ if (hostp->port < 0) { (void) fprintf(stderr, "%s configuration invalid, port number cannot be negative", hostp->servername); exit(PS_SYNTAX); } /* expand MDA commands */ if (hostp->mda[0]) { int argi; char *argp; /* expand the %s escape if any before parsing */ sprintf(hostp->mdabuf, hostp->mda, hostp->localname); /* now punch nulls into the delimiting whitespace in the args */ for (argp = hostp->mdabuf, argi = 1; *argp != '\0'; argi++) { hostp->mda_argv[argi] = argp; while (!(*argp == '\0' || isspace(*argp))) argp++; if (*argp != '\0') *(argp++) = '\0'; } hostp->mda_argv[argi] = (char *)NULL; hostp->mda_argv[0] = hostp->mda_argv[1]; if ((argp = strrchr(hostp->mda_argv[1], '/')) != (char *)NULL) hostp->mda_argv[1] = argp + 1 ; } } /* set up to do lock protocol */ if ((tmpdir = getenv("TMPDIR")) == (char *)NULL) tmpdir = "/tmp"; strcpy(tmpbuf, tmpdir); strcat(tmpbuf, "/fetchmail-"); strcat(tmpbuf, user); /* perhaps we just want to check options? */ if (versioninfo) { printf("Taking options from command line"); if (access(rcfile, 0)) printf("\n"); else printf(" and %s\n", rcfile); if (outlevel == O_VERBOSE) printf("Lockfile at %s\n", tmpbuf); for (hostp = hostlist; hostp; hostp = hostp->next) { if (hostp->active && !(implicitmode && hostp->skip)) dump_params(hostp); } if (hostlist == NULL) (void) fprintf(stderr, "No mailservers set up -- perhaps %s is missing?\n", rcfile); exit(0); } else if (hostlist == NULL) { (void) fputs("fetchmail: no mailservers have been specified.\n", stderr); exit(PS_SYNTAX); } /* check for another fetchmail running concurrently */ pid = -1; if ((lockfile = (char *) malloc(strlen(tmpbuf) + 1)) == NULL) { fprintf(stderr,"fetchmail: cannot allocate memory for lock name.\n"); exit(PS_EXCLUDE); } else (void) strcpy(lockfile, tmpbuf); if ((lockfp = fopen(lockfile, "r")) != NULL ) { fscanf(lockfp,"%d",&pid); if (kill(pid, 0) == -1) { fprintf(stderr,"fetchmail: removing stale lockfile\n"); remove(lockfile); } fclose(lockfp); } /* perhaps user asked us to kill the other fetchmail */ if (quitmode) { if (pid == -1) { fprintf(stderr,"fetchmail: no other fetchmail is running\n"); exit(PS_EXCLUDE); } else if (kill(pid, SIGTERM) < 0) { fprintf(stderr,"fetchmail: error killing fetchmail at %d.\n",pid); exit(PS_EXCLUDE); } else { fprintf(stderr,"fetchmail: fetchmail at %d killed.\n", pid); remove(lockfile); exit(0); } } /* otherwise die if another fetchmail is running */ if (pid != -1) { fprintf(stderr, "fetchmail: another fetchmail is running at pid %d.\n", pid); return(PS_EXCLUDE); } /* pick up interactively any passwords we need but don't have */ for (hostp = hostlist; hostp; hostp = hostp->next) if (hostp->active && !(implicitmode && hostp->skip) && !hostp->password[0]) { (void) sprintf(tmpbuf, "Enter password for %s@%s: ", hostp->remotename, hostp->servername); (void) strncpy(hostp->password, (char *)getpassword(tmpbuf),PASSWORDLEN-1); } /* * Maybe time to go to demon mode... */ if (poll_interval) daemonize(logfile, termhook); /* beyond here we don't want more than one fetchmail running per user */ umask(0077); signal(SIGABRT, termhook); signal(SIGINT, termhook); signal(SIGTERM, termhook); signal(SIGALRM, termhook); signal(SIGHUP, termhook); signal(SIGPIPE, termhook); signal(SIGQUIT, termhook); if ( (lockfp = fopen(lockfile,"w")) != NULL ) { fprintf(lockfp,"%d",getpid()); fclose(lockfp); } /* * Query all hosts. If there's only one, the error return will * reflect the status of that transaction. */ do { for (hostp = hostlist; hostp; hostp = hostp->next) { if (hostp->active && !(implicitmode && hostp->skip)) popstatus = query_host(hostp); } sleep(poll_interval); } while (poll_interval); if (outlevel == O_VERBOSE) fprintf(stderr, "normal termination, status %d\n", popstatus); termhook(0); exit(popstatus); } void termhook(int sig) /* to be executed on normal or signal-induced termination */ { if (sig != 0) fprintf(stderr, "terminated with signal %d\n", sig); unlink(lockfile); exit(popstatus); } /********************************************************************* function: showproto description: protocol index to name mapping arguments: proto protocol index return value: string name of protocol calls: none. globals: none. *********************************************************************/ static char *showproto(proto) int proto; { switch (proto) { case P_AUTO: return("auto"); break; case P_POP2: return("POP2"); break; case P_POP3: return("POP3"); break; case P_IMAP: return("IMAP"); break; case P_APOP: return("APOP"); break; default: return("unknown?!?"); break; } } /* * Sequence of protocols to try when autoprobing, most capable to least. */ static const int autoprobe[] = {P_IMAP, P_POP3, P_POP2}; static int query_host(queryctl) /* perform fetch transaction with single host */ struct hostrec *queryctl; { int i, st; if (outlevel == O_VERBOSE) { time_t now; time(&now); fprintf(stderr, "Querying %s (protocol %s) at %s", queryctl->servername, showproto(queryctl->protocol), ctime(&now)); } switch (queryctl->protocol) { case P_AUTO: for (i = 0; i < sizeof(autoprobe)/sizeof(autoprobe[0]); i++) { queryctl->protocol = autoprobe[i]; if ((st = query_host(queryctl)) == PS_SUCCESS || st == PS_NOMAIL || st == PS_AUTHFAIL) break; } queryctl->protocol = P_AUTO; return(st); break; case P_POP2: return(doPOP2(queryctl)); break; case P_POP3: case P_APOP: return(doPOP3(queryctl)); break; case P_IMAP: return(doIMAP(queryctl)); break; default: fprintf(stderr,"fetchmail: unsupported protocol selected.\n"); return(PS_PROTOCOL); } } /********************************************************************* function: showversioninfo description: display program release arguments: none. return value: none. calls: none. globals: none. *********************************************************************/ static int showversioninfo() { printf("This is fetchmail release %s\n",RELEASE_ID); } /********************************************************************* function: dump_params description: display program options in English arguments: queryctl merged options return value: none. calls: none. globals: outlimit. *********************************************************************/ int dump_params (queryctl) struct hostrec *queryctl; { printf("Options for %s retrieving from %s:\n", hostp->localname, hostp->servername); if (queryctl->skip || outlevel == O_VERBOSE) printf(" This host will%s be queried when no host is specified.\n", queryctl->skip ? " not" : ""); printf(" Username = '%s'\n", queryctl->remotename); if (queryctl->password[0] == '\0') printf(" Password will be prompted for.\n"); else if (outlevel == O_VERBOSE) if (queryctl->protocol == P_APOP) printf(" APOP secret = '%s'\n", queryctl->password); else printf(" Password = '%s'\n", queryctl->password); printf(" Protocol is %s", showproto(queryctl->protocol)); if (queryctl->port) printf(" (using port %d)", queryctl->port); else if (outlevel == O_VERBOSE) printf(" (using default port)"); putchar('\n'); printf(" Fetched messages will%s be kept on the server (--keep %s).\n", queryctl->keep ? "" : " not", queryctl->keep ? "on" : "off"); printf(" %s messages will be retrieved (--all %s).\n", queryctl->fetchall ? "All" : "Only new", queryctl->fetchall ? "on" : "off"); printf(" Old messages will%s be flushed before message retrieval (--flush %s).\n", queryctl->flush ? "" : " not", queryctl->flush ? "on" : "off"); printf(" Rewrite of server-local addresses is %sabled (--norewrite %s)\n", queryctl->norewrite ? "dis" : "en", queryctl->norewrite ? "on" : "off"); if (queryctl->mda[0]) { char **cp; printf(" Messages will be delivered with %s, args:", queryctl->mda_argv[0]); for (cp = queryctl->mda_argv+1; *cp; cp++) printf(" %s", *cp); putchar('\n'); } else printf(" Messages will be SMTP-forwarded to '%s'\n", queryctl->smtphost); } /********************************************************************* function: openmailpipe description: open a one-way pipe to the mail delivery agent. arguments: queryctl fully-determined options (i.e. parsed, defaults invoked, etc). return value: open file descriptor for the pipe or -1. calls: none. *********************************************************************/ int openmailpipe (queryctl) struct hostrec *queryctl; { int pipefd [2]; int childpid; if (pipe(pipefd) < 0) { perror("fetchmail: openmailpipe: pipe"); return(-1); } if ((childpid = fork()) < 0) { perror("fetchmail: openmailpipe: fork"); return(-1); } else if (childpid == 0) { /* in child process space */ close(pipefd[1]); /* close the 'write' end of the pipe */ close(0); /* get rid of inherited stdin */ if (dup(pipefd[0]) != 0) { fputs("fetchmail: openmailpipe: dup() failed\n",stderr); exit(1); } execv(queryctl->mda_argv[0], queryctl->mda_argv + 1); /* if we got here, an error occurred */ perror("fetchmail: openmailpipe: exec"); _exit(PS_SYNTAX); } /* in the parent process space */ close(pipefd[0]); /* close the 'read' end of the pipe */ return(pipefd[1]); } /********************************************************************* function: closemailpipe description: close pipe to the mail delivery agent. arguments: queryctl fully-determined options record fd pipe descriptor. return value: 0 if success, else -1. calls: none. globals: none. *********************************************************************/ int closemailpipe (fd) int fd; { int err, status; int childpid; if (outlevel == O_VERBOSE) fprintf(stderr, "about to close pipe %d\n", fd); if ((err = close(fd)) != 0) perror("fetchmail: closemailpipe: close failed"); childpid = wait(&status); #if defined(WIFEXITED) && defined(WEXITSTATUS) /* * Try to pass up an error if the MDA returned nonzero status, * on the assumption that this means it was reporting failure. */ if (WIFEXITED(status) == 0 || WEXITSTATUS(status) != 0) { perror("fetchmail: MDA exited abnormally or returned nonzero status"); err = -1; } #endif if (outlevel == O_VERBOSE) fprintf(stderr, "closed pipe %d\n", fd); return(err); }
generated by cgit v1.2.3 (git 2.46.0) at 2026-06-30 09:14:54 +0000