710790 - Uninstaller for natively-installed Windows apps should have option to remove profile data

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox Graveyard :: Web Apps, defect, P2)

Description

[Tim Abraldes [:TimAbraldes] [:tabraldes]]

We don't remove profile data on uninstall since a user may be temporarily removing an app and in that case would probably not want their saved games, etc to disappear on them.

However, in the case that a user is permanently removing the app, we want them to be able to do that through the uninstaller (no manual deletion necessary)

Comment 1

[Jason Smith [:jsmith]]

A Pivotal Tracker story has been created for this Bug: http://www.pivotaltracker.com/story/show/24808747

Comment 2

[Tim Abraldes [:TimAbraldes] [:tabraldes]]

This should be fixed and verified in the mozilla-central implementation.

Comment 3

[Tim Abraldes [:TimAbraldes] [:tabraldes]]

Based on the logic put forth in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=398434#c1 and lots of offline discussion, our webapp uninstaller will not have the ability to remove profile data for natively-installed webapps.  This can be revisited later, but adding the ability to remove profile data will add complexity to the webapp uninstaller and additional burden on localizers.

Comment 4

[Mark Hammond [:markh] [:mhammond]]

(In reply to Tim Abraldes from comment #3)
> Based on the logic put forth in
> https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=398434#c1

But that bug is RESOLVED FIXED right?  It it was based on that logic I'd expect the outcome to be the same.

I think it is poor form to litter the top-level profile directory with junk, especially for apps where people are more likely to experiment then throw the app away.  Even worse is the fact that the users will not be able to identify what app the data is for - eg, I installed "line rage", but the name of the directory with the junk we leave behind, and even the files left behind, make no reference to "line rage" - we are leaving junk in such a way the user can't even tell where it is from.

I can't think if a precedent for this (eg, Android etc all remove iy without prompting, and most Windows apps either do the same or prompt).  It just seems very sloppy and as an end-user, I'd be pretty annoyed once I noticed it.

Comment 5

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

"most Windows apps either do the same or prompt"? That hasn't been my experience though I know a few do. Which ones?

Also, MS doesn't recommend doing this on Windows. http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2007/09/17/4948130.aspx

I think it is fine to continue on without this capability and revisit / discuss it at a later date.

Comment 6

[Jason Smith [:jsmith]]

(In reply to Robert Strong [:rstrong] (do not email) from comment #5)
> I think it is fine to continue on without this capability and revisit /
> discuss it at a later date.

Would it be worth to reopen this as a feature request then for tracking purposes for a future date?

Comment 7

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

Probably best to open a new bug for evaluating whether the pros of adding this outweighs the cons (e.g. people accidentally deleting their data, not doing this on other platforms than Windows, etc.)... bugs are cheap and this would hopefully make the discussion in the bug more concise.

Comment 8

[Mark Hammond [:markh] [:mhammond]]

(In reply to Robert Strong [:rstrong] (do not email) from comment #5)
> "most Windows apps either do the same or prompt"? That hasn't been my
> experience though I know a few do. Which ones?

IIRC, Firefox, Thunderbird, VMWare and others I can't recall - it seems common to me.

> Also, MS doesn't recommend doing this on Windows.
> http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2007/09/17/4948130.aspx

I think that is misrepresenting the article - it mainly tells you it is impossible to remove data across all users and not to sweat it - but that doesn't apply to us (ie, the data will never be stored anywhere other than the "current" user.)  It also says "you can clean up the per-user data for the current user" and I note again that this is exactly what Firefox does.

I can understand "we don't have time/resources to do this right now" but IMO that is quite different to saying "we wont fix this because its not the correct thing to do" - and I think you are saying the latter?  If so, is there a push to have Firefox stop doing this, or is there some reason the 2 cases are different?

Comment 9

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

It has more to do with most Windows applications don't provide this ability AND some users don't realize the implication when they check the check box even when we make the wording scary. It isn't the right thing to do because we are giving users a gun to shoot themselves in the foot. There is also a push to have Firefox stop doing this.