Path: csiph.com!aioe.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Kaz Kylheku <349-534-5780@kylheku.com> Newsgroups: comp.programming Subject: Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Date: Sun, 24 Jul 2016 18:29:17 +0000 (UTC) Organization: Aioe.org NNTP Server Lines: 33 Message-ID: <20160724111254.447@kylheku.com> References: <0hq7pblr580ec5n1sv05fapprarqc9ef9l@4ax.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: OGJi3KNpFOhM58UHZwXj0w.user.gioia.aioe.org X-Complaints-To: abuse@aioe.org User-Agent: slrn/pre1.0.0-18 (Linux) X-Notice: Filtered by postfilter v. 0.8.2 Xref: csiph.com comp.programming:6797 On 2016-07-24, Richard Heathfield wrote: > On 23/07/16 23:13, Wally W. wrote: >> To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute: > > Whenever possible, I prefer not to do this. To delete my software, you > just delete it, and you're done. Either > > cd where/did/you/put/it > rm * Unfortunately, this happy "whenever possible" tends to fall apart. Stuff lives in multiple places. E.g. on Windows you have shortcuts in the start menu and desktop, data in some "application data" directory, registry settings, and perhaps environment variables (like PATH for all users). The user might want to uninstall all of it, or might want to keep the settings and data (perhaps they are switching to a different version). The program might have components running in the background that the uninstaller knows about and can report about and stop. >> If your uninstallation program can't leave the machine in the >> condition you found it, then tell the user what is different. > > Hear, hear! But if your program /needs/ an uninstallation program, there > had better be an extraordinarily good reason. (And sometimes there is. > But it's rarer than many people think.) Even if uninstallation is that simple, it may help the user to see that uninstall executable. The absence of that little program (by itself) fails to assure the user that deletion of the directory is sufficient.