284754 - Installer should automatically remove any older installations

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: Installer, defect)

Description

[Aaron Slunt]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8b2) Gecko/20050228 Firefox/1.0+
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8b2) Gecko/20050228 Firefox/1.0+

With the fuss over how Firefox should be installed with another installation on
the hard drive, it's simple: have the installer detect any older versions of FF,
and remove the installation (or at least, alert the user in the installer and
leave it up to them, emphasizing the problems that could arise installing
overtop an older version). This is something many other programs do to prevent
problems (like the popular AVG Antivirus), and will help out a great deal of
people who don't know how to handle a new install with an older version already
installed.

Reproducible: Always

Comment 1

[Jo Hermans]

related: bug 247884 (but that's windows only)

Comment 2

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 247884 ***

Comment 3

[Simon Paquet [:sipaq]]

This bug is not a duplicate of bug 247884. It is certainly related though. It
may still be a duplicate, but of another bug.

Comment 4

[David E. Ross]

This appears to be the same as bug #210731, which was a Mozilla Suite bug. 
Since this still appears to be an open Firefox problem while #210731 is already
fixed for Mozilla Suite, this is NOT a duplicate of #210731.  

Note that #210731 had Priority of Critical and was a blocker for Mozilla 1.4.1
(where it was fixed) and 1.5.  Should not this bug also be Critical and a
blocker to reflect the fact that Firefox will now be the only end-user browser
product being released by the Mozilla Foundation?  

Comment 5

[Justin Kerk]

If this is done, please make sure to preserve the plugins directory (and
uninstall information?) as described in bug 210731.

Comment 6

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

Nice to have, but older uninstalls have issues that I'd rather avoid triggering
(like the uninstall bug if you install into a folder with other random content).
 Let's leave this on tap for the replacement installer bsmedberg has been
talking about for the next major release.

Comment 7

[Aaron Slunt]

mconnor, I haven't used windows for quite a while. Is this still an issue, and was that new installer ever pushed out?

Comment 8

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

(In reply to comment #7)
> mconnor, I haven't used windows for quite a while. Is this still an issue, and
> was that new installer ever pushed out?
The new installer has been in use since 2.0. This bug hasn't been fixed so if it is still wanted this is still an issue.

Comment 9

[earthsound]

Mark as WFM? Upgrading from 2.0.0.14 to 3 with the default installer, reference to the older version was removed from Add/Remove Programs, the Start Menu, etc. Also, ff 3 was dropped into the ff 2 application directory, replacing older versions of files.

Comment 10

[Worcester12345]

This bug should be blocked by Bug 437969 – Firefox 3.0 RC2 downloaded the 2.0.0.7 update and then refused to launch

Comment 11

[[not reading bugmail]]

It seems that choosing standard installer maybe tries to give you an older install directory to upgrade, but what about multiple installed copies of FF?

I tried to help another user, only to say use the standard option to install into the 1st install platform default directory, but the installer picked up his previous install folder, which I don't think we wanted it automatically removed, but, to know it existed was more important because of testing new versions.  So I don't think automatically delete is the best method to deal with this, especially trying to do testing. 
 
Maybe the installer experience would benefit from better targeted options, including modifying existing installations, installing to the platform default folder, instead of just having to go find the uninstaller shortcut for each individual release too before installing.

FWIW, 
I'm kinda thinking the installer would need 4 options, rather than 2.
Default (platform, new, ask), standard (express upgrade, existing), custom install and modify existing installations or options like PM settings and profiles.

Comment 12

[Don Pellegrino]

Attachment: Screen shot of Windows 8 Programs and Features Control Panel showing an old Firefox version.

This is a screen shot from a Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise x64 system, Programs and Features Control Panel. Mozilla Firefox 15.0 had been initially installed. It was upgraded to 16.0.1. Only the 16.0.1 installation is present on the system. It is installed to C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox. Therefore, the record for version 15.0 should no longer appear in the Programs and Features Control Panel.

Comment 13

[Don Pellegrino]

With Firefox 16.0.2, the entry for 15.0 no longer appears in the "Programs and Features" Control Panel in Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise x64.