Bug 87540 - Installer deletes previous installation's files even when installed to different directory
Summary: Installer deletes previous installation's files even when installed to differ...
Status: RESOLVED NOTABUG
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Installation (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
4.4.0.0.beta2
Hardware: x86-64 (AMD64) Windows (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
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Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2014-12-20 23:39 UTC by pb
Modified: 2016-04-16 08:26 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

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Description pb 2014-12-20 23:39:59 UTC
for version 4.4.0.1 prerelease  (although no doubt applies to all versions)

When installing to a new, different directory than previous installation, installer still deletes all files in the old installation directory.

No program should delete files without first obtaining permission from the user.  Obviously, if it were being installed over a previous version, it would have to clobber the previous files.

Probably this is done to avoid having multiple dll's with the same name lying around.  However, I suspect that is probably finessable by de-registering the dll's.  If there is really no alternative, then the User should still be warned that files are about to be deleted and asked for confirmation.  (In my case, I would copy them to some backup location first.)

A related enhancement would be to have multiple functional installations co-existing.  This is useful for testing new versions.  (If that is a duplicate of some other bug, please do not mark this entire bug as a duplicate, unless the file clobbering part is a separate bug as well -- I did not find any such previously reported bug.)
Comment 1 Buovjaga 2015-03-06 11:58:54 UTC
Yes, I noticed that 4.5 alpha 64-bit deleted 4.5 32-bit even though they reside in different Program files folders!

pb: for your enhancement request, it is already possible and very easy on Windows with SI GUI https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Installing_in_parallel

Win 7 Pro 64-bit Version: 4.5.0.0.alpha0+ (x64)
Build ID: 5a009a4387a84a36d2e3418c7e7b097cb10c3f5a
TinderBox: Win-x86_64@42, Branch:master, Time: 2015-03-04_15:00:21
Locale: fi_FI
Comment 2 pb 2015-03-06 22:54:23 UTC
Thanks for the pointer.

However, I see this shows as "fixed."  It is NOT fixed, because while there is a workaround, LO still should not clobber files in a random other directory without warning and confirmation.
Comment 3 Michael Stahl (allotropia) 2015-04-01 20:48:44 UTC
isn't this just how MSI and Windows work?  there can only be one installation
system-wide, so if you install a new version it had better remove the old one.

if you want multiple versions parallel installed you need to use
msiexec /a
which does not touch the registry so you don't get system integration.
Comment 4 tommy27 2016-04-16 07:23:11 UTC
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Comment 5 Andras Timar 2016-04-16 08:26:01 UTC
Comment 3 has the correct answer. Let's close this bug.