On 2022-09-17 09:37, David C. Rankin wrote:
On 9/16/22 19:44, Marc Chamberlin wrote:
Back in the days when I was studying Computer Science, one of the cardinal rules of software engineering we were taught was - "Never Never Never destroy user data! Don't even touch it without first backing it up (for the user also) and be ready to restore software and data if anything goes wrong.
Oh how true.
While this update shouldn't destroy data, the fact that it prevents you from reverting to your old setup if something goes wrong -- is almost as bad.
But you can not revert, it is impossible. The new version of Th can not work with the old config. You have to revert the program as well, which needs some sort of backup.
Yes, before doing the automated conversion the program should warn the user of what is going to happen in case he wants to abort and make a backup. No! I have to disagree, the user does not necessarily know what needs to be backed up. There are perhaps obvious data files, (in this case those files in the TB profile directory) but what about other places data might be stored? Databases? Configuration files under /etc? /opt? etc. Only the software development engineers know for certain what needs to be protected and backed up. The TB update process/software should
On 9/17/22 04:44, Carlos E. R. wrote: preserve and backup all user data before proceeding with an irreversible upgrade. And a route to revert back to a working state, should be automated and presented to the user in case the upgrade fails. Only the software development engineers really know how to do this. Having the ability to revert is a part of the credo to "Never destroy user data" which also includes things like preserving configuration data, schemas, design patterns etc. Marc... -- *"The Truth is out there" - Spooky* *_ _ . . . . . . _ _ . _ _ _ _ . . . . _ . . . . _ _ . _ _ _ . . . . _ _ . _ . . _ . _ _ _ _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . * Computers: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the user Marc. His mission: to explore strange new hardware. To seek out new software and new applications. To boldly go where no Marc has gone before! (/This email is digitally signed and the OpenPGP electronic signature is added as an attachment. If you know how, you can use my public key to prove this email indeed came from me and has not been modified in transit. My public key, which can be used for sending encrypted email to me also, can be found at - https://keys.openpgp.org/search?q=marc@marcchamberlin.com or just ask me for it and I will send it to you as an attachment. If you don't understand all this geek speak, no worries, just ignore this explanation and ignore the OpenPGP signature key attached to this email (it will look like gibberish if you open it) and/or ask me to explain it further if you like./)