Re: PostgreSQL uninstall fails

So if there is only one versin of postgeSQL installed and no other
products with the name "postgres", which I am guessing is very typical
in most instances, can I change the uninstaller to delete/remove
everything that this installer installed?

If there is another instance, it would leave the common things around of
course, but uninstalling a single instance leaves a lot of droppings
around that need to be manually cleaned up.


J.V.

On 11/10/2011 8:18 PM, Craig Ringer wrote:
> On 11/11/2011 06:18 AM, J.V. wrote:
>> yes, this is on windows.
>>
>> Currently removing the data directory and the postgresql user is not
>> optional. It fails and does not remove those two items.
>>
>> There must be 30+ registry keys still there as well.
>>
>> What I am looking to do is to delete any registry entry:
>>
>>  1. that has a data value matching the pattern '*postgres*'
>>  2. that has a directory value matching the pattern '*postgres*'
>>  3. that has a key name matching the pattern '*postgres*'
>
> I think that's a _bad_ idea for several reasons:
>
> - More than one PostgreSQL version can be installed concurrently
>
> - Other products include the name-part "postgres", such as
>   "Postgres Plus" among others.
>
> - The installer cannot tell whether any other users of the mu
>   "postgres" user account remain. A PgAgent install may still
>   be present even after PostgreSQL has been uninstalled, for
>   example, and the user won't want it uninstalled especially
>   if they're about to reinstall PostgreSQL. Also, when more than
>   one Pg version is present it's hard to be certain whether the
>   running uninstaller is the _last_ one on the system and should
>   remove the "postgres" user account.
>
>
> I don't think the usual uninstaller should behave as you describe.
> That said, I do see value in a "clean" uninstall option that strips
> out everything at the risk of possibly breaking parallel installs of
> other products or PostgreSQL versions.
>
> I guess in an ideal world PostgreSQL installers and uninstallers could
> refcount so they knew when the last product was uninstalled. In
> practice, people can't be relied on to use uninstallers properly, 3rd
> party products won't manage the refcount properly, etc, and it'll land
> up breaking things.
>
> --
> Craig Ringer
>