1678823 - Uninstalling Thunderbird left some openPGP dll files behind

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Thunderbird :: Installer, defect)

Description

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

Attachment: Screenshot: OpenPGP dll files left behind after uninstall

Uninstalled a recent Daily (ca. 2020-11-10), and some openPGP .dll files were left in the program folder (see screenshot).

Comment 1

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

^^ comment 1 - dll files left behind on uninstall - is this by design?

Comment 2

[Kai Engert [:KaiE:]]

Rob, do you have an idea why this might happen?
Is there a separate uninstaller file list that needs to get updated?

Comment 3

[Rob Lemley [:rjl]]

(In reply to Kai Engert (:KaiE:) from comment #2)

Rob, do you have an idea why this might happen?
Is there a separate uninstaller file list that needs to get updated?

Thomas, was that install done a while ago and has been updating itself via the built in updater?

This looks like an installer/updater bug.

The Thunderbird uninstaller is relying on uninstall/uninstall.log to figure out what to remove, but that file does not get updated with new files by the built-in update process. It errs on the side of caution to avoid accidentally deleting files the user might have stuck in the program directory.

Firefox's uninstaller uses the precomplete file to figure out what to remove. That file is kept current by the updater so new files are not left behind when Thunderbird is uninstalled.

If Thunderbird 78's installer is run, when uninstall happens it does get these files, it's only installs of < 78 (or so) that are updated that would exhibit this problem.

Looks like we need to port (part of) bug 1038560?

CCing Richard since he has been doing most of the Windows installer maintenance.

Comment 4

[Rob Lemley [:rjl]]

Attachment: Bug 1678823 - Use precomplete file in Windows uninstaller to remove files. r=Paenglab

The NSIS install log does not track new files that may be added to the application
directory when updating to a new version. When Thunderbird is uninstalled, those added
files are not removed, resulting in an incomplete uninstall.
The precomplete file is updated by "helper.exe /PostUpdate", and is run automatically
as part of the automatic update process.

Comment 5

[Rob Lemley [:rjl]]

Attachment: Bug 1678823 - Correct NSIS compilation warnings. r=Paenglab

Fixes unknown variable warnings when compiling the NSIS installer for
BrandProductName and AppRegName.

Depends on D99640

Comment 6

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/c06766c64a34
Use precomplete file in Windows uninstaller to remove files. r=Paenglab
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/0256e161520e
Correct NSIS compilation warnings. r=Paenglab