App Store request : more control on uninstall behaviour by user

asked 2014-12-13 11:42:25 +0300

tortoisedoc gravatar image

updated 2014-12-13 11:43:00 +0300

This might actually already exist; but currently not on SailfishOS.

The idea is that users should be able to choose if app data should be removed upon uninstallation or not. How to do this? One suggestion:

  • ask the user if data of app should be removed as well BEFORE uninstalling but RIGHT after uninstallation is started

    • remove predefined folders only (.config/harbour-<app_name> for instance)</app_name>
    • remove other folders specified in the .spec file by the developer (no idea if the spec file has support for this?)
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Comments

1

Is this not what uninstall scripts are for, meaning if an app leaves leftover files, it's a problem (or just a choice) with the app? Of course, if you mean that you want to keep some leftover files because they might be useful, I understand your point, but then you could just make backups of the app's files manually, or ask the app's developer to include an option to backup the files in case you wish to remove the app. I think this is more of a niche request that many people won't use, in which case it seems like it doesn't really need to be on the store.

nthn ( 2014-12-13 12:22:44 +0300 )edit

This is more work for the user, isnt it? Of course it is possible, but more effort is required, plus the average joe might not be keen to use backups that specifically.

tortoisedoc ( 2014-12-13 14:11:58 +0300 )edit

Plus, user has zero control on uninstall scripts behaviour

tortoisedoc ( 2014-12-13 14:15:16 +0300 )edit

True, more work for the user to manually backup, but really, how many average joes would ever even care whether uninstalling the application leaves some files behind or not?

nthn ( 2014-12-13 15:56:27 +0300 )edit

Also, uninstall scripts are quite invisible to the user. As in, user does not know if the data of the app has been deleted or not.

tortoisedoc ( 2014-12-14 21:11:52 +0300 )edit