Wish List - A good Installer for SM2 Updates

[worldmaker]

I'm sure the developers have been watching, or hiding from, all the buzz in the Support forum about the seemingly endless issues surrounding the migratory update from SM 1.18 to SM 2. I'm not here to insult anyone, but make a few construction suggestions from my own background in the hope it can assist in the rapid development of an effective solution.

Especially a solution that will help all the thousands of non-technical users out there who are going to flee SeaMonkey when they suffer all the problems.

This is a serious public relations disaster, so here are my thoughts on how to fix it.

To begin with the update from the old version to SM2 is "sold" to people as a regular update, somewhat similar to every smooth and efficient update they've received so far, and it's not. Too many reports of broken updates and installations clearly show this ought to be called, documented and delivered as a stand-alone installation.

The key is the need for an effective installation routine that takes account of all the new features and the need to carry out a thorough and smooth automatic migration - there just aren't enough people in the world sophisticated enough to do this manually, so it ought to have been looked at as part of the development and delivery process - to create an effective, all-encompassing migration facility in SM2.

Yes, I know it's a pain, sorry, but with something this big it's needed.

From my own experiences, documented in the Support Forum, I've found the system needs to:-

(a) Install at a clean application, even though the installer tries to install and an update, placing it alongside the older version of SeaMonkey and not trying to overwrite the old one.
(b) Carry out automatic migrations of all profiles. This is where the tricky scripting comes in for all your clever programmers out there. It needs to: (i) Scroll through the existing installation and convert its profile list (the data is stored there in the system so shouldn't be too difficult to scan, read and act upon), (ii) scan through each profile and convert the relevant files over into the new profiles in the new profile areas; conduct a comprehensive copy of all files, folders, etc., in the old profiles into the new profile areas; (iii) verify successful translation and transfer of each profile in the old list into the new list; (iv) wind up with a completely new copied installations alongside the old ones.

This isn't happening, and I've face the problem and temporarily abandoned it, when having to migrate five major profiles, one with over 2,000 files and folders, and I'm a qualified software engineer.

I hate to think what other's are feeling about this. I can imagine the difficulty many people are having to face in doing this alone at home or work with no outside support.

The correct installer/updater scripting ought to have avoided this problem, son one needs to be developed as a standalone application for everyone (to be abandoned once people are onto the new SM2 track), or incorporated into the SM2 installer (skipped automatically when you are already using SM2 successfully).

That's the key challenge as I see it today.



My other key threads:
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=1568165
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=1564165

[therube]

In the scheme of things, one might think that this was actually pretty successful.

Most will never post unless they have a problem. So in that regard those with problems tend to be vocal.
Given the number of downloads (100K+, I believe), it might be surmised that most went successfully.

Now that is not to say that there have not been problems, as there certainly have been.
And issues have been found, some fixed, some known but the causes not yet understood & so not fixed, & some issues were known ahead of time with the intention to fix later.

The install into/overtop of an existing SeaMonkey 1.1.18, yep, they missed that.

The documentation, the installation guide in particular, could have been more thorough, more explanatory. But then those testing already knew what to do & what to expect, so much of what might have been there may not have occurred to them to be included. Plus, who reads the docs. Quite a number of Mail problems would not have been asked, had the installation guide (one short paragraph of it) been read.

But when you or I as a user are unsure, what do we do? We take the safe route. We backup. We install as a test run. We go through the steps before rolling out live. We either uninstall the existing (always the safest things to do, right) or we install into a different directory. We don't migrate Profiles - initially. Cause we want to get a feel for how it works first. When we're comfortable, then we give it a whirl & look for problems, hoping for none.

An "average user". Well caveat emptor. Even a SeaMonkey 1 install/migration would not be "easy" for many. Most here have been with Mozilla/SeaMonkey for a long time & know the nuances, so it is no big deal. A new user to the application, may be a bit different for them. So for the lay person, perhaps initially it isn't going to be that user friendly. With a bit of time & effort though, they may come to appreciate its' qualities.

[worldmaker]

You're right of course, most people won't comment, but I'm fussy and always want to see the best job done for everyone. SeaMonkey has served me well for many years so this is my contribution back to the community to enhance it for everyone's benefit.

[Ztruker]

I have to agree with worldmaker on this one, the migration from 1.1.18 to 2.0 did not work. The browser worked fine, but the account migration did not, and I don't consider myself a novice user.

The migration of the account I selected during 2.0 install failed miserably, without any indication of errors. I had to repeat the install several times, cleaning up completely between attempts, before I found a combination that worked, which is to cancel the migration then do each account manually from a Command Prompt using the seamonkey -P "username" -migration command. That worked perfectly for all 4 accounts.

As worldmaker said, all accounts should be migrated automatically and successfully, including Bookmarks, History and especially E-mail account settings and existing E-mails. If not, then a GUI migration method should be provided via Profile Manager.

[worldmaker]

I too had to use the command line to test the migration.

Unfortunately I have a customized installation. Both the applications and profile folders are not in the standard C:\.... locations, but in separate partitions for easier management and backup (all mail in one partition, all applications in another, windows system in a third). This may have caused part of my hiccups. The other problem may be that the main default profile had over 2,000 files and folders (and over 2 gigabytes of data), including a few of my own additions, backup copies of key files, etc., but none of the mail folders and files were migrated when I used the migration tool (78 files copied/converted out of 2,360 files).

This is why I emphasized a thorough copy and verification in my proposal for an effective migration tool.

It also leads me to suggesting that the profile creation process allow the user to specify a new location each profile during the migration. This can be a master folder for all new profiles/copies to be created therein, or a new master folder for each separate folder if you want to spread them around your PC.

I wonder if such a migration application can be designed and added to the end of the installation process, both as a completion to the process and as a separate function within or alongside the Profile Manager? This would(?) reduce the need to rewrite the Profile Manager or installation process too much while adding this function?

[therube]

Both the applications and profile folders are not in the standard C:\.... locations ... This may have caused part of my hiccups

Shouldn't have. Or at least you would not expect that to be an issue. (I keep nothing in "standard" locations.)

[worldmaker]

Both the applications and profile folders are not in the standard C:\.... locations ... This may have caused part of my hiccups

Shouldn't have. Or at least you would not expect that to be an issue. (I keep nothing in "standard" locations.)

Thanks, that's one more worry to tick off, and on with the next one.

[worldmaker]

Up-date...

Tried on a WinXP installation and the installation, into a separate directory, and migration of the default profile appeared to work. Only fault I found was the failure to import my bookmarks, but that was corrected by using the Bookmarks Manager (Bookmarks | Manage Bookmarks...) to use the original bookmarks file.

Needed to reboot the PC for everything to come into effect, but so far so good.

Still not made progress on the Win2000 Installation.