Privacy & Anonymous Telemetry¶

FreeXmlToolkit sends anonymous usage statistics and anonymous error reports to help improve the application. Both are switched on by default (opt-out) and can be turned off at any time. Nothing is sent before you have seen the one-time notice that appears after the first start.

What is collected¶

Every request contains a small envelope describing the environment:

Field	Example	Meaning
`install_id`	`9b2d…`	A random UUID created on the first launch. It is not derived from your computer, user name or network and can be reset at any time.
`session_id`	`4f1c…`	A random UUID per application launch.
`app_version`	`2.2.0`	FreeXmlToolkit version.
`os_name`	`Windows`	Operating-system family only: Windows, macOS, Linux or Other.
`os_arch`	`x64`	CPU architecture family: x64, arm64 or other.
`java_major`	`25`	Java feature release.
`locale`	`de`	UI language only (no country / region).

Each usage event describes one action:

Field	Meaning
`event_type`, `category`, `status`	Which feature was used (e.g. `validate`, `xslt_transform`) and whether it succeeded, failed, was cancelled, …
`client_event_at`	When it happened (UTC).
`doc_kind`	Coarse document type derived from the file extension: `xml`, `xsd`, `xslt`, `schematron`, `json` or `other`.
`file_count`, `input_bytes`, `element_count`, `error_count`, `duration_ms`	Counts, sizes and timings.
`is_first_run`	Whether this is the first launch of the installation (on the `app_start` event).
`meta`	A few flat technical attributes such as the view mode (`text`, `tree`, `graphic`).

Each error event additionally contains:

Field	Meaning
`error_code`	The exception class, e.g. `java.lang.NullPointerException`.
`error_detail`	A stack signature: the chain of exception classes plus up to 20 code locations (`class#method:line`), mainly from FreeXmlToolkit's own code. If the stack contains no FreeXmlToolkit code at all, its first and last locations are kept (where it failed and what triggered it).
`error_hash`	A 16-character fingerprint of that signature, used to group identical problems.
`meta.where`	Where in the app it happened, e.g. `uncaught`, `executor`, or the title of the error dialog.

A failed XSLT transformation event (xslt_transform) carries only the processor's standard error code in error_code (e.g. XTSE0010 = invalid stylesheet element, XPST0003 = XPath syntax error, SXXP0003 = input XML not well-formed) and the failure phase in meta.phase (compile, input or runtime) — never the error message, which may contain file names. A stylesheet that does not compile or an input that is not well-formed is a problem with the user's files, not with the app: those runs have status invalid_input, only runtime failures have status error. The error dialog of a failed run is not reported a second time as an app error. input_bytes is the size of the source document in characters.

Identical errors are sent only once per session (with a repeat counter), and at most 30 error events are sent per session.

Launch, session and performance information¶

Event	What it contains
`app_start`	Startup time in ms, `is_first_run`, `meta.channel` (`release` or `dev`), `meta.days_since_install` (whole days since the anonymous ID was created), `meta.package` (`installer`, `portable` or `none` — only the kind of installation, never its folder) and a snapshot of a few UI settings (`meta.set_theme`, `set_toolbar_labels`, `set_toolbar_icons`, `set_activity_labels`, `set_rendering`, `set_update_check`, `set_xml_autoformat`, `set_xsd_autosave`, `set_schema_autobind` — on/off values and fixed options only).
`app_exit`	Session length, number of opened files, actions, side panels and the maximum number of open tabs, plus the peak and maximum Java heap rounded to 64 MB.
`prev_session_crashed`	Sent at the next start when the previous session ended without a clean exit (crash, forced close). Contains only that session's anonymous ID and app version. The detection uses small marker files in `~/.freeXmlToolkit/sessions/`.
`file_open`, `view_mode`, `validate`, `schema_analysis`, `schema_bind`	How long opening a document, switching to the Text/Tree/Graphic view, validating or analyzing took, and the document size. `schema_bind` tells how a schema was found for an opened document (`declared`, `library`, `catalog`, `manual` or `none`).
`ui_stall`	The user interface did not respond for at least two seconds: the duration, the side panel and view mode that were active, a stack signature of the blocked code (code locations only, as for errors), and the shape of the active document: its size in characters (`input_bytes`), its number of lines (`meta.lines`) and the length class of its longest line (`meta.max_line_len`: `<1k`, `<10k`, `<100k`, `>=100k`) — never its content. At most 10 per session.
`ui_command`, `panel_action`	Which toolbar button, keyboard shortcut (e.g. `mod+s`), Welcome page card or side-panel action was used (fixed identifiers).
`edit_summary`	Counts per session of editing commands in the structured editors (e.g. `add_element: 12`, `undo: 3`) and of IntelliSense suggestions shown/accepted — command names only, never element names, values or text.

What is never collected¶

File names, folder names or paths
Document content, XPath/XQuery expressions, schema or element names
Exception messages (they often contain paths or content — only class names and code locations are used)
User names, e-mail addresses, the "User Info" from the settings, license or machine identifiers
Your IP address: the server derives only the country from it and never stores or logs the IP

Error reports you send yourself¶

Error dialogs, the About dialog and the Help panel offer Send error report… / Report a problem…. There you describe the problem in your own words and may optionally leave a contact address if you would like a reply. The checkbox Include technical details attaches the exception class, fingerprint and stack signature described above. A collapsible Preview shows exactly the JSON that will be sent.

How to see what is sent¶

Settings ▸ Usage Statistics ▸ What is sent? shows a sample of the exact payload (built from the events currently waiting to be sent) together with your anonymous installation ID.

How to switch it off¶

Open Settings ▸ Usage Statistics and clear

Send anonymous usage statistics and/or
Send anonymous error reports,

then click Save Settings. Events of the disabled kind that are still waiting to be sent are deleted immediately.

Administrators can disable telemetry completely by starting the application with the Java system property -Dfxt.telemetry.disabled=true, or by setting these keys in ~/.freeXmlToolkit/FreeXmlToolkit.properties:

telemetry.usage.enabled=false
telemetry.errors.enabled=false

How to reset the installation ID¶

Settings ▸ Usage Statistics ▸ What is sent? ▸ Reset ID replaces the anonymous installation ID with a new random one. Data sent afterwards can no longer be linked to data sent before.

Where the data goes¶

Events are sent over HTTPS to https://telemetry.status20.net, a self-hosted server operated by the FreeXmlToolkit author in the EU (Helsinki, Finland). The data is not shared with third parties and is used only to understand which features are used and which errors occur. Individual events are deleted automatically after 90 days; long-term, only anonymous, aggregated daily totals (counts per feature, version and operating system) are kept. Error reports you send yourself via Send error report… are kept until they have been reviewed. The country is derived from your IP address using the free DB-IP country database (IP Geolocation by DB-IP, CC BY 4.0); the IP address itself is never stored or logged.

Offline use and proxies¶

Events are queued locally in ~/.freeXmlToolkit/telemetry-queue.jsonl (at most 5000 events and 14 days, oldest dropped first) and sent in small batches about every five minutes. Requests use the proxy configured in Settings ▸ HTTP Proxy. If the server cannot be reached, sending is retried later with increasing pauses (up to six hours); the application is never slowed down.