bugGNU Octave - Bugs: bug #56956, Installs in incorrect location,...

 
 

bug #56956: Installs in incorrect location, uninstall also fails after following online steps

Submitter:  None
Submitted:  Thu 26 Sep 2019 06:15:21 PM UTC
   
 
Category:  Configuration and Build System Severity:  3 - Normal
Priority:  5 - Normal Item Group:  Installation Failure
Status:  Invalid / Not an Octave Bug Assigned to:  None
Originator Name:  Noah Originator Email:  -email is unavailable-
Open/Closed:  * Closed Release:  * 5.1.0
Operating System:  * Microsoft Windows Fixed Release:  None
Planned Release:  None
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Thu 27 Feb 2020 11:19:03 PM UTC, comment #6: 

This really isnt a bug anyway - delete all the files manually and the installer for any program will no longer be available, nor will an easy method to remove the files.


John Donoghue <lostbard>
Group Member
Thu 27 Feb 2020 10:08:35 PM UTC, comment #5: 

This bug report seems to have stalled several months ago. Some Windows developers have given some suggestions of how to clean remaining things like settings and registry keys. Are there any remaining clear bugs here or is everything working as expected?

Mike Miller <mtmiller>
Group Member
Mon 30 Sep 2019 06:31:23 PM UTC, comment #4: 

To wipe the registry values of a manually uninstalled program, just go to Control Panel, select Programs | Uninstall a program, and in the ensuing list right-click on the octave entry.  You'll get a popup telling the program is gone and asking for permission to wipe the entry.

Philip Nienhuis <philipnienhuis>
Group Member
Mon 30 Sep 2019 12:41:22 PM UTC, comment #3: 

Installing to d: works for me.

It does install some stuff to the user profile directory just like every other windows application may. So if that is on your C: drive, then that is where that will be installed.

This will be:
1. some settings files in .config\octave

2. some start menu items to Windows\Start Menu\Programs in your user profile, to the windows start menu folder, depending on whether you select to install for all users.

3. It will also install some shortcuts on the desktop if you have that option set

Each of these are based on where your windows install has been set to store this data. So isn't really controllable by octave, and I believe is how every other windows application works.


The installer checks the install part of the registry for a previous installation, and that is why you see the error about an installation existing, so if you removed files you should not have removed, then you will have to go into the registry and remove the entries your self.

Probably from: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Octave-5.1.0.0




John Donoghue <lostbard>
Group Member
Sun 29 Sep 2019 12:17:12 AM UTC, comment #2: 

I'm the OP.
I did not enter "D:". That was just me abstracting it a bit for readability purposes. I installed it a while back, but here's what the process was, given that it opens a window when selecting where to place the file:
-it probably started with a default installation path, that I'll refer to as "C:\{{path}}"

-I opened the browse files interface for selecting an installation path
-I created a new directory as "D:\{{path}}", where {{path}} is the exact same folders and whatnot that the default was. I do this for all new apps since my C: drive is very low on storage because... Windows... I don't want to get into it here.

If there wasn't a window for picking a file, then I still made all the folders that were a part of the path, if there was more than one folder.

Regardless, something installed somewhere on C: that was in "C:\users\{{user}}\Octave\". There was also something in Program Files on C: I believe, but when I last checked, it was a while ago, so my memory might not be correct.

Anyway, I found some things to delete so that this stubborn app can stay, if I can manage to reinstall or get a copy of the files on another computer and transfer them over so I can... "Uninstall" Octave and reinstall it.

A temporary solution for me from you, would be making the folder called "Octave" that contains a folder called "Octave-5.1.0.0" that contains "uninstall.exe" available to me.


Unrelated to solving the issue: I've had a task for one of my 3 jobs to do someone else's job on the backend using Octave and it's just really getting on my nerves. Ugh. None of the others have windows :P

Anonymous
Fri 27 Sep 2019 12:33:21 PM UTC, comment #1: 

sorry, I can't completely follow you.

Did you enter just "D:" in the Destination folder box? I think that is not enough, you'd need to fill in a complete path.

And which directory is meant with "elsewhere"?

If you entered just "D:" chances are that it is interpreted as installing into the root dir of drive D: where you may not have write priviliges.

FWIW, at work I install development versions always in a
D:\Octave\Octave-<version>_<date>
subdirectory and I fill in that path in the Destination folder box.

Philip Nienhuis <philipnienhuis>
Group Member
Thu 26 Sep 2019 06:15:21 PM UTC, original submission:  

I selected the D: drive for Octave to install to, but instead it chose to install elsewhere. I attempted to move some folders to the D: drive that should have been installed on the D: drive and updated their locations in the environment variables accordingly, which didn't work at all. So, my only option was to reinstall it. There's no obvious uninstall file, and with a quick web search, I was told to erase Octave files from my computer and then to uninstall Octave with "Add or Remove Programs." I deleted all Octave system files, and then tried to uninstall, but uninstall.exe could not be found, so now, I can't "uninstall" Octave, since now there are no Octave files to uninstall the Octave file. I can't install or repair Octave because there are no files that will repair it, and it won't install because "another installation of Octave with the same version was found." So somebody done goofed, and half of that somebody was me, but the rest of that somebody was the developer.

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    Follow 4 latest changes.

    Date Changed by Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced by
    2020-02-27 mtmiller StatusNeed Info Invalid / Not an Octave Bug
        Open/ClosedOpen Closed
    2020-02-27 mtmiller CategoryNone Configuration and Build System
    2019-09-27 philipnienhuis StatusNone Need Info

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