site_archiver@lists.apple.com Delivered-To: installer-dev@lists.apple.com Thread-index: AcY2nl0VOOHmWs7STd+cdlpEk3meFAAuD9xQ Thread-topic: "Repairing" an installation Well, if the application can tell if their preferences are damaged, it's already got code to try and clean them up. The problem is when it cannot tell (subtle corruption) or when they're not really damaged so much as there is some considered-valid preference combination that causes grief on a user's machine. At that point, being able to get back to a "clean" state to see whether the problem recurs is a useful tactic for support. If it does recur, then there is probably something else odd with the machine setup. If not, then perhaps there's a bug, or there is some interaction between machine setup and some preference choice. In these cases, it is worth having some manual mechanism to allow the user to get back to a "clean" state. -nh -----Original Message----- From: Stéphane Sudre [mailto:ssudre2@wanadoo.fr] Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 1:05 PM To: Nathan Herring Cc: installer-dev@lists.apple.com Subject: Re: "Repairing" an installation Frankly, I don't see myself going to the Installer to repair the preferences file of a software. It looks more intuitive to have the software itself deal with the "corrupted" preferences. If it (the software) can't automatically repair them, then an alert can be displayed to inform the user about the situation and that the preferences are going to be reseted to the default/factory settings. Regarding the "support" request to clean the preferences, considering the solution above is implemented (so that you can be sure that the application can be launched), you could use a key combination to change the Preferences... menu item in the application menu to Reset Preferences... (something like Control + alt). When the user selects the Menu Item, a dialog asks him/her to confirm the reset of the preferences. Problem with this solution: you have to deal with the reset of preferences within the application. My $0.02 before tax. On lundi, février 20, 2006, at 09:32 PM, Nathan Herring wrote:
AFAICT, the Apple installer doesn't really have a repair operation - you can elect to install over a previous installation, though you can add checks to enforce that you don't downgrade. A feature that our product support often requests is also a mechanism to clean out the preference files (usually accomplished by running our Remove Office application and choosing only preferences files) to make sure that some odd setting (or corrupted preference data) isn't causing a customer's problem.
We could clearly leave things as they are; PSS can walk customers through the steps to remove their preferences if necessary. However, does Apple suggest a way to handle these kinds of repair operations? Should it be separate UI, like a setup assistant? (a Repair assistant?) Or is this something that would get into the installer itself, and if so, should we just wait for the Apple installer to add it?
Thanks in advance, Nathan
---- Nathan Herring MacBU SDE/Development _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Installer-dev mailing list (Installer-dev@lists.apple.com) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/installer-dev/ ssudre2%40wanadoo.fr
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