# Obtaining a numeric value for "number of users" or downloads for grant applications and stuff

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/obtaining-a-numeric-value-for-number-of-users-or-downloads-for-grant-applications-and-stuff/62078>\
**Category:** Community\
**Tags:** package-manager\
**Created:** [May 30, 2021, 10:14am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/obtaining-a-numeric-value-for-number-of-users-or-downloads-for-grant-applications-and-stuff/62078 "2021-05-30T10:14:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Datseris](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/datseris/32/13406_2.png) [@Datseris](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Datseris)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2021, 10:14am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/obtaining-a-numeric-value-for-number-of-users-or-downloads-for-grant-applications-and-stuff/62078/1 "2021-05-30T10:14:28Z")

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Hello there,

Let’s say I have developed some packages which I can collect in a vector of UUIDS:

```julia
packages = [
    "634d3b9d-ee7a-5ddf-bec9-22491ea816e1",
    "61744808-ddfa-5f27-97ff-6e42cc95d634",
]

```

What I’d like to do is get an accurate estimate of just how many users these packages have. I guess the most logical thing is how many times `pkg> add` was done on these packages.

For someone in their early career stages, like myself, including such information in a grant application can be paramount. Github stars is something I could measure, but it doesn’t actually say much about how many people use the packages, and only allow for speculations…

So, is there a way to get an accurate answer?

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**Author:** ![Sukera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sukera](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Sukera)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2021, 10:17am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/obtaining-a-numeric-value-for-number-of-users-or-downloads-for-grant-applications-and-stuff/62078/2 "2021-05-30T10:17:25Z")

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The keyword to look for is “Telemetry”, either here on discourse or on the Pkg.jl repo. Be warned, it’s a somewhat controversial topic.

The TL;DR is (and I hope it’s correct) - there were plans, there is some very limited telemetry, it’s complicated. The page to check for what you may need is **snip** though I’m unsure whether that particular page is still up to date, since if I recall correctly, telemetry wasn’t merged after all…

EDIT: I’ve removed the link, since it’s [out of date](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/pkg-jl-telemetry-should-be-opt-in/42209/395).

There’s also [this](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/pkg-ecosystem-statistics/48673) post about the very limited data that is available, so that’s an avenue to investigate as well.