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Groups > comp.programming > #6789
| From | Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | comp.programming |
| Subject | Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute |
| Date | 2016-07-24 17:37 +0100 |
| Organization | Origin Sonata |
| Message-ID | <nn2qsj$8er$2@dont-email.me> (permalink) |
| References | (4 earlier) <MPG.31feaa066d4b1a4c98a3b2@news.eternal-september.org> <nn2nt0$u39$1@dont-email.me> <dvk6nsF3h1qU1@mid.individual.net> <nn2p5s$2j1$1@dont-email.me> <MPG.31feb5dcda84a9af98a3b4@news.eternal-september.org> |
On 24/07/16 17:24, J. Clarke wrote: > In article <nn2p5s$2j1$1@dont-email.me>, rjh@cpax.org.uk says... >> >> On 24/07/16 16:55, Osmium wrote: >>> "Richard Heathfield" wrote: >>> >>>> On 24/07/16 16:34, J. Clarke wrote: >>>>> In article <nn2m7t$o38$2@dont-email.me>, rjh@cpax.org.uk says... >>>>>> >>>>>> On 24/07/16 16:00, Osmium wrote: >>>>>>> "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 * >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> or maybe, just maybe, there are sub-directories, so: >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> cd where/did/you/put/it >>>>>>>> rm -rf * >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> (careful!) >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> or, if you're on Windows, one of the many Windows equivalents of >>>>>>>> doing >>>>>>>> the same thing (such as dragging a pretty yellow box onto a >>>>>>>> picture of >>>>>>>> a dustbin - alas, I can't promise sweeties to those who get this >>>>>>>> right). >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> 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.) >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I long for the good old days too. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> But doesn't your approach fail in one of the most elementary cases on >>>>>>> Windows? A new program with a new data file. You want to click on the >>>>>>> data file and invoke the program. How can you do that without changing >>>>>>> the data used by the OS? To me, that is SOP and not rare at all. >>>>>> >>>>>> But the /user/ is responsible for setting up that association. The user >>>>>> double-clicks on "foo.bar", and Windows says "huh? You'd better >>>>>> choose a >>>>>> program for that", and the user chooses my program, and that's the >>>>>> user's choice, so it's the user's problem. >>>>> >>>>> And the tech support guys think badly of you when they have to remote- >>>>> access 10,000 machines and set up that association that _should_ have >>>>> been set up by the installer. >>>> >>>> I understand your point but I don't agree with it. File associations >>>> are a pain in the neck, because they rely on a false premise - i.e. >>>> that the file extension uniquely determines the type of the file. >>>> >>>> I once had to write a program to inspect the first few bytes of a PDF >>>> to discover whether it was a Portable Document Format file (a >>>> document) or a Program Description File (a format used by a screen >>>> layout descriptor utility for COBOL programmers). The program had to >>>> decide which one it was, and then call either Acrobat or the screen >>>> layout thing - and the users associated .pdf with /my/ program, rather >>>> than Acrobat or the utility. >>>> >>>> File extensions go at least as far back as VM/CMS, but they were never >>>> designed to uniquely determine the type of file (even VM/CMS used file >>>> mode descriptors rather than extensions to determine whether a file >>>> was supposed to be executable). File associations were a >>>> badly-designed overlay onto file extensions, and Microsoft has done >>>> little, if anything, to address the problems that file associations >>>> cause. >>> >>> I probably agree with all that. But it's a bit like complaining about >>> the way words are spelled in the English language. For the most part, >>> it works, and people expect other people to honor the conventions. >> >> If it's in the program spec, fair enough, but there'd better be a way to >> remove it, also in the program spec. >> >> If it's not in the program spec, then it's just extra work for no benefit. >> >> And that's true for pretty much any "it", not just file associations. > > Are you one of those guys who can't figure out what features are needed > until someone else writes a spec and then you do the bare minimum > necessary to meet the spec? Yup. I guess you're one of those guys who keeps adding features until the machine crashes under the weight of them, and then removes the last one. It's /so/ easy to denigrate other people's design choices, isn't it? -- Richard Heathfield Email: rjh at cpax dot org dot uk "Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999 Sig line 4 vacant - apply within
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To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Wally W. <ww84wa@aim.com> - 2016-07-23 18:13 -0400
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Kaz Kylheku <349-534-5780@kylheku.com> - 2016-07-24 06:44 +0000
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Julio Di Egidio <julio@diegidio.name> - 2016-07-24 04:53 -0700
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Kaz Kylheku <349-534-5780@kylheku.com> - 2016-07-25 04:13 +0000
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-07-25 08:28 +0100
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-07-24 09:40 +0100
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2016-07-24 10:00 -0500
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-07-24 16:18 +0100
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-24 11:34 -0400
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-07-24 16:46 +0100
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2016-07-24 10:55 -0500
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-07-24 17:08 +0100
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-24 12:24 -0400
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-07-24 17:37 +0100
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-24 13:16 -0400
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-07-24 18:53 +0100
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-24 15:11 -0400
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2016-07-24 14:45 -0500
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-07-24 21:31 +0100
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-24 18:06 -0400
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-07-24 23:53 +0100
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-24 18:04 -0400
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-07-24 23:47 +0100
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Wally W. <ww84wa@aim.com> - 2016-07-24 19:34 -0400
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Wally W. <ww84wa@aim.com> - 2016-07-24 14:03 -0400
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-24 12:10 -0400
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-07-24 17:36 +0100
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2016-07-24 11:37 -0500
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-24 13:24 -0400
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2016-07-24 18:29 -0500
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Wally W. <ww84wa@aim.com> - 2016-07-24 20:34 -0400
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Mark Storkamp <mstorkamp@yahoo.com> - 2016-07-25 10:00 -0500
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2016-07-25 11:22 -0500
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Kaz Kylheku <349-534-5780@kylheku.com> - 2016-07-25 18:55 +0000
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Wally W. <ww84wa@aim.com> - 2016-07-26 00:19 -0400
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Kaz Kylheku <349-534-5780@kylheku.com> - 2016-07-26 04:24 +0000
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2016-07-26 09:13 -0500
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Öö Tiib <ootiib@hot.ee> - 2016-07-26 14:11 -0700
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Wally W. <ww84wa@aim.com> - 2016-07-27 02:58 -0400
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Kaz Kylheku <349-534-5780@kylheku.com> - 2016-07-27 13:47 +0000
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Wally W. <ww84wa@aim.com> - 2016-07-24 13:24 -0400
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Wally W. <ww84wa@aim.com> - 2016-07-24 13:40 -0400
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Wally W. <ww84wa@aim.com> - 2016-07-24 13:42 -0400
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute Kaz Kylheku <349-534-5780@kylheku.com> - 2016-07-24 18:29 +0000
Re: To all who write uninstallation programs for software you distribute SIKDER EMRAN <sikderemran4321@gmail.com> - 2016-07-31 03:19 -0700
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