[Pidgin] #453: Automatic migration considered harmful

[Pidgin]

#453: Automatic migration considered harmful
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  Reporter:  Ulrich        |       Owner:        
      Type:  enhancement   |      Status:  closed
  Priority:  minor         |   Milestone:        
 Component:  pidgin (gtk)  |     Version:  2.0   
Resolution:  worksforme    |    Keywords:        
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Comment (by Ulrich):

 Replying to [comment:1 rlaager]:
 > You have no justification. Why would you not want automatic migration?

 The first justification is to make the user aware, that a migration is
 being performed. While the change has been announced on the webpage,
 changelog and what not, end users might not have seen this (for whatever
 reason). The user should therefore be notified, when the migration is made
 to let them know, that their settings have been moved, and that the old
 settings-directory is no longer used by the program. If the user again
 uses the old program, then additions (such as non-server buddies and logs)
 made there are not necessarily available to the new program.
 If the user is not aware of this, then that's a problem.

 Secondly, users of the old Gaim might want to test the new Pidgin using
 different accounts before making a final switch, running both programs in
 parallel. Forcing the user's data to the new location could have
 disasterous results, if the unaware user uninstalls the new version and
 removed the associated user-directory being none the wiser. (Never
 underestimate the common stupidity of users!)
 Parallel usage would especially be the case during the beta-testing, where
 one would likely uninstall the beta.

 While I am aware, that there are workarounds, that allows the user to
 avoid triggering migration (such as renaming the ".gaim"-directory, before
 running the program), not all would think of that.

 I could also imagine some cases, where one does not want to keep the
 settings from the old program, but rather would like to try the default
 settings and work their way from that.


 While I myself could just temporarily rename the settings-directory when
 testing Pidgin in parallel, I thought my suggestion could be beneficial
 for others, who are not power users.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/453#comment:2>
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