289348 - Install version in parallel overwrites Uninstall for previous version

Status: NEW

(Thunderbird :: Installer, defect)

Description

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

If I have installed TB 1.0.2 into its standard place, and then I run the 
installer for a nightly build, the Windows Control Panel Remove Programs applet 
loses the uninstaller for TB 1.0.2.

If I then select Uninstall from the applet, if I run UninstallThunderbird from 
either the nightly install *OR the TB 1.0.2 install*, the nightly is removed, as 
is the corresponding item in the Control Panel applet.

Then it is impossible to uninstall TB even by running the UninstallThunderbird 
program, which yields this error message:

  0: Uninstall log folder not found:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\[Product CurrentVersion]\Uninstall\Uninstall Log Folder

and exits without uninstalling.

Steps to Reproduce:
On a Windows system with no TB installs:
1) Install TB 1.0.x to a directory
2) Install a nightly build to a different directory
3) Open Control Panel :: Add/Remove Programs, check for TB entries
4) Uninstall TB
5) Check installation
6) Attempt to uninstall the remaining TB by running UninstallThunderbird from 
the uninstall subdirectory.

Actual results:
3) only the nightly build is listed
5) nightly build is uninstalled
6) error message as described above

Expected results:
3) both builds listed (like Mozilla does)
6) no error, 1.0.2 is uninstalled as well

This can be worked around by installing the nightlies via the Zip distributions, 
but these are a megabyte larger than the installers (which is nontrivial for 
those of us still on modems).


Incidentally, once the installation has gotten into the "uninstallable" state, 
it can repaired by reinstalling 1.0.2 to the same original directory, then (if 
desired) uninstalling.


I'm marking this bug minor, since it has workarounds and isn't that common a 
problem -- but the suite does this correctly.  I haven't played much with making 
multiple Firefox installs; I know there's a related but opposite problem where 
installing FF 1.0.1 on top of 1.0 causes *duplicate* entries in the CP applet.

Comment 1

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

This may be dependent on bug 249783, and may block bug 274170.