[Rd] Possible uninstall problem on windows.

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 26/10/2008 9:50 AM, Erich Neuwirth wrote:
> I just uninstalled R 2.7.2 on Windows XP after having installed R 2.8.0
> The uninstaller removed the String values
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\R-core\R\Current Version
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\R-core\R\InstallPath
> despite the fact that they pointed to R 2.8.0
> The uninstaller did not remove the key
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\R-core\R\2.7.2
> (and all the values in that key)
> 
> I think the uninstaller should only remove the Current Version entry
> if it points to its own version.
> 
> In a second attempt, the 2.7.2 uninstaller removed the key
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\R-core\R\2.7.2
> (which is what it should do)
> but it still removed the
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\R-core\R\Current Version
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\R-core\R\InstallPath
> values. It should not have removed these keys.
> 
> Sometimes this does not happen, and I have not found a consistent
> explanation when it happens and when not.
> Sometimes also running RSetReg.exe creates a second entry like
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\R-core\R\2.7.2
> which has identical content with the first one.
> The registry really looks like having 2 identical entries.
> 
> Is this something which I should file as a bug?

The deletions look like a bug, but probably not one that will get fixed 
by us.  All of the registry entry removals are handled by the Inno Setup 
installer.  It has options to delete, or to delete if empty, but no 
option to delete if unchanged.  So our only workaround would be not to 
delete at all.  Now maybe that should be the option for Current Version 
and InstallPath; do you think so?

The duplicate entry also appears to be a bug, but if it's not 
reproducible, I wouldn't want to try to track it down.  Registry keys 
are supposed to be unique, so maybe this is a Windows bug.  You might 
want to export both keys to a file, and do a careful compare there.

Duncan Murdoch