Re: Native compilation on Windows, was Re: Bootstrap Compilation Speed

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2022 17:48:31 +0000
> From: phillip.lord@russet.org.uk
> Cc: "H. Dieter Wilhelm" <dieter@duenenhof-wilhelm.de>, corwin@bru.st,
>  emacs-devel@gnu.org
> 
> Actually, the "x86_64" is
> not needed now, but I guess I left that in for backward compatibility.

Why do you think the architecture subdirectory is not needed?

> But, the uninstall section looks like this:
> 
> Section "Uninstall"
> 
>    # Always delete uninstaller first
>    Delete "$INSTDIR\Uninstall.exe"
> 
>    # now delete installed directory
>    RMDir /r "$INSTDIR"
>    RMDir "$INSTDIR"
> 
>    !insertmacro MUI_STARTMENU_GETFOLDER Application $StartMenuFolder
> 
>    Delete "$SMPROGRAMS\$StartMenuFolder\Uninstall.lnk"
>    RMDir "$SMPROGRAMS\$StartMenuFolder"
> SectionEnd
> 
> So, I think there will only be a single uninstaller. Uninstalling will 
> remove all versions of Emacs because it just deletes the INSTDIR. 

Then that is the problem to fix: how Emacs is uninstalled.

Or maybe it's a feature that it uninstalls all the versions?

In general, I see no reason for anyone to ever uninstall Emacs.  But
that's me.

> In windows land, installing Emacs-28 would be expected to remove
> Emacs-27.

We are in Emacs-land, not in Windows-land.  Emacs on Windows tries to
behave like on any other platform, from this POV.

> If all older versions of Emacs get left behind, that would generally
> be considered a bug.

It is not a bug, it's a feature: old versions are still available
after installing new ones.  If someone reports this as a bug, we will
explain why it isn't.

> So, side-by-side installation will work but it's not by design and while 
> the installer supports it, the uninstaller will not respect it.

Then the uninstaller needs to be fixed.

> My feeling is, therefore, the current set up is correct. If you want to 
> run multiple versions of Emacs, use the zip file.

I disagree.  I think it will be confusing to have different
installation expectations depending on whether a zip file or an
installer were used.  They should both yield the same results.