Closed Bug 286100 Opened 19 years ago Closed 19 years ago

Need programmatic way to modify the EM Uninstall log

Categories

(Toolkit :: Add-ons Manager, enhancement)

enhancement
Not set
normal

Tracking

()

RESOLVED WONTFIX

People

(Reporter: ericjung, Assigned: bugs)

Details

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050223 Firefox/1.0.1
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050223 Firefox/1.0.1

Presently, there is no way for an extension to delete files it has dynamically
created when the extension is uninstalled via the EM. This results in files that
linger after the extension which created them is uninstalled; they can remain on
the machine indefinitely.

We need an interface which allows us to manipulate (add, edit, remove) entries
in the %ProfD%/extensions/GUID/uninstall/Uninstall log. Currently, I modify this
file manually using nsiLocalFile, but this is most definitely a hack IMHO.


Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
0. Write an extension which, after installation, creates a file in
%ProfD%/extensions/GUID/ or any subdirectory thereof.
1. Use the EM to uninstall your extension.
2. The file created in (0) is still there.

Actual Results:  
I cried and spit up on myself! Then I broke down and wrote code to manipulate
the Uninstall log myself using nsiFile.

Expected Results:  
EM should provide a way to add/remove/modify entries in the uninstall log of an
extension so additional files can be specified to be removed when the extension
is uninstalled.
Summary: An interfaces should support manipulation of the EM Uninstall log → An interface should be created to support manipulation of the EM Uninstall log
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
Summary: An interface should be created to support manipulation of the EM Uninstall log → interface to modify the EM Uninstall log
Version: unspecified → Trunk
Any chance remaining entries in prefs.js could be removed too (if the user wants
that to happen) ?
A true complete uninstall.
that's a different bug, bug 258301
Having end-user exposed UI to do this is almost certainly never going to make it
into Firefox. It's too complex for questionable benefit.
It's not about UI, it's about API. Say add a method to nsIExtensionManager
interface.
Certain extensions create additional files that are not needed after
uninstallation. There should be an option to tell that to the EM uninstaller, so
that it removed such files when uninstalling the extension.
Yeah that makes sense. The bug summary was a little confusing I guess. I've
updated it.
Summary: interface to modify the EM Uninstall log → API/Interface to modify the EM Uninstall log
Summary: API/Interface to modify the EM Uninstall log → Need programmatic way to modify the EM Uninstall log
This bug might be considered as a blocker for Bug 248298 because if the file
from extension folder is not removed then the folder itself would also not be
removed (this is assuming that extension dev would not use any hack to Uninstall
log).
The process is being changed by the patch for bug 286034 and last I checked an
uninstall log is no longer used.
With the checkin for bug 286034 there is no longer an uninstall.log file. All
files inside of an extension's directory are removed during an uninstall and
prior to an upgrade to an extension as well.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 19 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
Product: Firefox → Toolkit
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