Two weeks ago, we informed the Eclipse community cross-projects mailing list that a unique user id (UUID) had been introduced into the upcoming Eclipse Neon release. The UUID was introduced to help the Eclipse Foundation better understand how developers are using Eclipse. However, the implementation automatically generated the identifier, and the user only had the opportunity to opt-out, not opt-in. Not requiring an explicit user opt-in was a mistake on our part, and we apologize for our error.
Luckily, the feedback from the community was clear, immediate and negative, so we quickly removed the UUID code. The code has now been removed and the Eclipse Neon release will not include any form UUID. If you are interested in the details I suggest you read the mailing list archives and these bugs.
Anyone who downloaded Eclipse Platform SDK Neon milestones between M7 and RC4 will have an Eclipse UUID located on their computer in the ${user.home}/.eclipse/eclipse.uuid file. The created UUID file will not be used in the Neon release but you might still want to delete this file. The Eclipse Foundation is also taking steps to delete all the UUID information we have received.
Thank you to everyone in the community that provided the feedback to highlight the error of the UUID implementation. This is a good example of how open source communities can make better decisions.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.