Re: Win32 Plugin Installation Paths

Luke Schierer wrote:
> > Doesn't the uninstaller know which files it installed? It sounds like 
> > the uninstaller is dumb and just does rm -rf C:\Program Files\Gaim, 
> > instead of removing just the files it installed, and just the 
> > directories it installed iff they're empty. If this is the case, I vote 
> > for making the uninstaller better, unless there's other advantages to #2 
> > above and beyond the main problem you're trying to solve.
> >
> > --Tim
>
>
> other than i like the overall idea of letting admins help users (idiots) 
> pick reasonable defaults, i'd vote for this method also. if the 
> uninstaller can't tell the directory isn't empty after its removed its 
> own files, its an uninstaller bug.
>
> luke
The installer does not keep a list of which files were installed, 
instead it has a list of files to be deleted upon uninstallation.  This 
includes the entire pixmaps directory, because otherwise, we'd have to 
list every pixmap, sound, etc that Gaim is supposed to uninstall in the 
installer script... and the devs would have another file to keep 
updated.  The way the script is now, it does not delete the DLL files 
located in the Gaim directory or plugins directories unless it put them 
there.  This requires the installation script to be updated every time 
we add a new DLL file, which doesn't happen often, so it is not too 
unreasonable.

Now, I don't know enough about NSIS to say whether or not it can be made 
to easily track which files it installed, but I feel like we shouldn't 
be doing a full uninstallation during the upgrade process anyway.  It 
would be far better to simply install over existing files and delete 
only the ones that need removal.

The result of the actions of the installer working as it does now are 
most noticeable with Guifications because we delete all the pixmaps that 
were installed by GF to the pixmaps directory.  We don't blindly "rm 
-rf" the c:\program files\gaim directory, but I personally like the idea 
that we should be able to do this safely on an uninstall.  That 
directory is Gaim's program directory, and deleting it should remove the 
Gaim program entirely.  It should probably not remove the user's or 
global configuration of Gaim, smiley themes, etc.

Applications like Mozilla Firefox are now able to be deleted by removing 
the program directory, and you don't have to worry about losing your 
extensions or profile data.  This is usually done through a local user's 
profile, but for managed systems there is a distinct advantage to having 
a system-wide location for applications to be customized that doesn't 
leave those preferences scattered around the system in binary 
directories.  That's what "All Users" is designed for after all.

The other advantage of keeping the files in an all users directory is 
that it keeps custom content separate from the program, meaning when we 
ask a user if he has any third party plugins installed, he shouldn't 
need to be looking in c:\program files\gaim\plugins and trying to guess 
which ones came with Gaim and which ones didn't.  People will still be 
stupid and install plugins here anyway.  However, if we make the plugins 
with installers go to this All Users location, we ensure that at the 
very least, the extras that these plugins (which are complicated enough 
to not just be a single DLL) are not going to be haphazardly removed, 
and also that we don't have trouble distinguishing them whether manually 
or via installation tool.

I'm liking Luke's suggestion that we also make the All Users\Application 
Data\.gaim directory a fallback if the current user doesn't have his own 
local profile.  I gather that once the user attempts to change this 
profile, he gets his own local copy in his home directory?  If not, how 
does this work?

Kevin


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