However, I started wondering whether some programs — like Chrome — generate a unique installation identifier during installation (for example, in
/opt/google/… or similar).
You can verify it:
Install the same browser in 2 separate templates. Check which files are put/changed on the system by the installer. Copy them to a VM and run diff. What is the result?
Has anyone ever thought about this, and besides creating a separate template per AppVM, do you have any solutions or workarounds?
A possible (wasteful) one is to install the browser package on AppVM start through a script in /rw/config/rc.local. However, that is not a panacea because if we assume browser X generates such ID, it really depends how it is generated. If it is based on data which is the same in all AppVMs (e.g. CPU model), that renders the whole exercise pointless.
Even if no ID is generated in a file, a sneaky browser X (or any other software) can still generate the ID internally (in RAM) and use it while running.
Bottom line: research is necessary.