Dammit, Manjaro. Why you gotta be WEIRD?! I used to love their branding, but they keep doing crazy things that would clearly alienate the userbase that's left...

data such as host name,

Okay why do they need to know that? Why do they need to know if the computer is called "Melissa's Laptop" or "Workstation 15, Internal security division"? Seems like this kind of data could if stolen be misused and it has minimal legitimate purpose IMO as anyone can put anything as host name and while in organizations it often corresponds to use it doesn't have to for individuals. Someone could call their machine "Mack's Porn Rig" and they only use it for doing banking and a little coding.

kernel version, desktop component versions, detailed information about hardware and drivers involved, screen size and resolution information,

This all seems legitimate enough, this would be helpful for understanding the hardware their users run on and targeting features or bug fixes.

network device MAC addresses,

Not great but there is an argument for it, they could just grab and send the first 3-4 octets which would give them the info they need on manufacturers without getting uniquely identifiable data that along with some of this other stuff is concerning for fingerprinting.

disk serial numbers,

Okay, what the fuck. Why do they need disk serial numbers? What possible use is there for that. Those are used for warranty claims and could be used as part of uniquely fingerprinting a computer and person. Not cool.

disk partition data,

This is vague enough. I guess one could choose to see this as just info about partitions in use say if there's also an NTFS partition that looks like a Windows install that would be useful but on the other hand data encompassed within a partition could also nefariously be read as allowing them access to all your data. Partition layout, partition labels, and file systems used on disks available to the system would be a clearer way to put this and erase any doubt.

information about the number of running processes and installed packages, versions of basic packages such as systemd, gcc, bash and PipeWire.

All this is also fine just technical data stuff.

Once again proven right that EndeavourOS is the superior downstream Arch distro

Glad i said fuck it and went straight to actual arch when i wanted to try arch based. Literally like 9/10 times i hear manjaro brought up its not going to be in praise. Ffs lol

I've defended Manjaro many a time, despite the mistakes they've made. The main reason for this, Manjaro is the most stable Linux distro I've used.

However, the main reason I ditched Windows as my primary OS was telemetry (and bloat). If Manjaro introduce this, it absolutely must be opt-in.

I actually contribute to the Steam hardware survey as I want to ensure Valve, but more so hardware manufacturers, are aware desktop Linux systems for gaming and creative work are viable. But it's my choice to contribute.

If Manjaro don't implement this as an opt-in then I'll be installing Arch. It will be a pain to configure my software again but needs must.

That list about which data they're collecting is longer than my highschool essay

With archinstall, anybody can install Arch in 10 minutes nowadays. Why use Manjaro ?

Opt-out? I see it's time for the seasonal Manjaro fuck up.

Why on earth do they need to know hostname? MAC addresses?

Manjaro is already less stable than arch, now it collects your data involuntarily? Fucking wild how anyone can use it.

Opt-out? Seriously? What are the Manjaro devs smoking?

hostname? MAC address? serial numbers? does "partitionx data also include names and GUIDs?

why would they need these? what is wrong with them??

enable telemetry by default ... MAC addresses, disk serial numbers

Another reason to not use Manjaro. Just use Endeavour instead.

Edit: I'm not against telemetry pre se. I have the KDE feedback enabled for example but that was opt in and sends no unique data.

I get the usefulness of technical telemetry such as kernel version, RAM, disk space, processor type, etc... but NIC MAC? HDD serial? WTF?

I just don't see a good reason to use Manjaro and many reasons not to.

The report includes data such as host name, kernel version, desktop component versions, detailed information about hardware and drivers involved, screen size and resolution information, network device MAC addresses, disk serial numbers, disk partition data, information about the number of running processes and installed packages, versions of basic packages such as systemd, gcc, bash and PipeWire.

That's insane

Why do they need information about the hostname? Is it really valuable for them to know how many systems are named daves-pc?

network device MAC addresses, disk serial numbers

That's enough. I'm calling it evil from now on.

I don't get why someone would use Manjaro after so many fuckups.. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're either too new to Linux or don't care. Just look for "manjaro certificates" or "manjaro drama" and you'll find out for yourself.

It amazes me it's still as popular as it is and still own goaling at least once a year.