Quote Originally Posted by niccol View Post
@Melanie

Just my thoughts:

Delete of installer:
traditionally, IH has had an installer. It ran on a function that was triggered by the 'install' button. That function stayed in place after it ran. This is just the same. The installer functions stay in place but they are just not actioned. I am not sure that I completely understand your argument against this. Many modules on many platforms do not delete there install functions.

BAK files
Yes, this is going to be changed.
I think that there is a bit of a misunderstanding between you and Diva about this. There are BAK files in the original upload package. They are basically files that are going to be moved during the install or uninstall and are uploaded as BAK files. If those files are deleted prior to upload then the installer will not run as it checks that the files are uploaded correctly before continuing. There are also BAK files that are created when a file is overwritten. If you delete these then you should have no problems.
In general, the BAK suffix was a mistake and will be changed.
Actually, the file checking part of the installer is a part that I would be most reluctant to see removed. So many 'errors' are created by files be uploaded incorrectly that a quick check of this before install is finalised seems like a good idea.

Complication
Well, i think that you are just wrong here. The install procedure is to log in to zen admin, change the name of admin in the package, upload the files, refresh a page in admin. Takes me under a minute. But that is just my opinion.

Backing up Template files
Well, I know what you mean. But the idea is not that the file merging should not happen. Evidently the file merging needs to happen. The concept is more that part of the install should have a backup involved. So, for instance, if someone hadn't done the file merging there would still be a record of their previous file state. I can't honestly see why backing up a file is a problem.

File Handling in General.
Well, yes there is a different ballgame when you start moving files on the server. There are arguments for and against here. I understand that you are strongly on one side of that. Again, the support threads show that most errors are created by people putting files in the wrong places. The file handling does two things:
-- creates backup versions of overwritten files
-- puts the template files in the right place
Is your argument against either or both of these or just the concept of doing this programatically rather than manually?
Delete of installer: I would be satisfied if the manual installer worked. I actually have tested it several times since this original post and it just does not work. I had to create a mime for the bak files, use the installer, back out the changes and merge the files by hand after the installer ran. Then delete install directories and bak files and remove mime type.

I can appreciate that you are trying to make it easier... But different hosted environments, users, configurations and such being as Zen Cart has always been, a manual installation is really necessary IMO.

The whole point of Zen Cart has always been the customization.

I also believe that users presented with a "super easy" install will likely change other customizations unknowingly. A user who doesn't know what modules/customizations are integrated in the affected files should likely not be doing the install.

I have no issue with the files being backed up at all, as long as they are secure.

The database installer in the old IH was significantly different than what IH4 does. No comparison really.