Flex: [Question] What is the `id` in `composer.json`?

[c33s]

composer.json contains a id in the extra -> symfony section.

extra:
    symfony: { id: XXXX, allow-contrib: false }

it feels a little bit like a tracking id. what is it used for? can we disable it? false leads to a new id.

[Pierstoval]

It's used for Flex-based applications stats IIRC

[c33s]

opt-in/opt-out would be a good thing. GDPR/DSGVO https://www.eugdpr.org/

personally i would prefer opt-in like debian is doing it.
the installer asks if i want to install the statistics package popularity-contest and i can choose not to.
https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=%20popularity-contest&searchon=names&suite=all&section=all
and the statistics are public
https://popcon.debian.org/

[Pierstoval]

I think @fabpot can give you a lot more info about this subject 😉

[fabpot]

@Pierstoval Please do NOT comment when you don't know. Giving some wrong info is really bad.

The id is only used for private repositories, that's all. You can opt-out easily by just removing the value (setting the value to an empty string).

[c33s]

@fabpot the behavior is a little bit inconsistent.

i retested the behavior with the latest version of composer and flex:

on a composer run a bank id is kept with the following values:

• null
• "null"
• "false"
• full remove of "id": ".....",

a regeneration of the id takes place with the following values:

• false
• ""

maybe all of this values should lead to an empty id.

[c33s]

... and thanks for clearification

[fabpot]

My bad. The way to avoid the id generation is to simply remove the entry.

See https://github.com/symfony/flex/blob/master/src/Flex.php#L567