Possible bug in Package>>privateUninstall

> Andy/Blair,
>
> When I deploy a runtime one of the errors in the log is as follows:
>
> <!--  Notification: Uninstalling package 'SUnitBrowser Improvements'   -->
> <!--  CompilerErrorNotification: Error: TestResult>>exceptions at line 2:
> undeclared 'exceptions'   -->
>
> When I manually uninstall this package there is a beep that sounds like an
> error report (similar to the deployment, but without the log).
>
> Package>>privateUninstall does an uninstall of Globals, Classes, then
> Methods. It seems to me that this is conceptually backwards. Deleting
> globals before deleting classes that reference those globals seems likely
> to provoke an error. Deleting classes before deleting methods that
> reference those classes seems likely to provoke an error.
>
> I've modified my image to do the uninstall in the reverse order (Methods,
> Classes, then Globals), and then the deployment does not report that
> error. I can't think of anything that this would break, but I've not
> looked very far into it.
>
> Comments?
>
> James Foster
>

> Andy/Blair,
>
> When I deploy a runtime one of the errors in the log is as follows:
>
> <!--  Notification: Uninstalling package 'SUnitBrowser Improvements'   -->
> <!--  CompilerErrorNotification: Error: TestResult>>exceptions at line 2:
> undeclared 'exceptions'   -->
>
> When I manually uninstall this package there is a beep that sounds like an
> error report (similar to the deployment, but without the log).
>
> Package>>privateUninstall does an uninstall of Globals, Classes, then
> Methods. It seems to me that this is conceptually backwards. Deleting
> globals before deleting classes that reference those globals seems likely
> to provoke an error. Deleting classes before deleting methods that
> reference those classes seems likely to provoke an error.

> "James Foster" <[hidden email]> wrote in message
> news:[hidden email]...
>> Andy/Blair,
>>
>> When I deploy a runtime one of the errors in the log is as follows:
>>
>> <!--  Notification: Uninstalling package 'SUnitBrowser
>> provements'   -->
>> <!--  CompilerErrorNotification: Error: TestResult>>exceptions at line 2:
>> undeclared 'exceptions'   -->
>>
>> When I manually uninstall this package there is a beep that sounds like
>> an error report (similar to the deployment, but without the log).
>>
>> Package>>privateUninstall does an uninstall of Globals, Classes, then
>> Methods. It seems to me that this is conceptually backwards. Deleting
>> globals before deleting classes that reference those globals seems likely
>> to provoke an error. Deleting classes before deleting methods that
>> reference those classes seems likely to provoke an error.
>
> Uninstalling the globals removes them from the system dictionary, but any
> methods compiled against them will still hold a reference to the variable
> binding, so they will still work.
>>
>> I've modified my image to do the uninstall in the reverse order (Methods,
>> Classes, then Globals), and then the deployment does not report that
>> error. I can't think of anything that this would break, but I've not
>> looked very far into it.
>
> The current uninstall order is (perhaps perversely) the one that makes
> most sense. Globals can be removed without doing any damage (except to
> code which does a lookup by name, which is very unusual). The loose
> methods need to be left in place in case they are required for class
> uninitialisation. Deletion of the classes before the methods should not
> normally cause issues, as the methods are passively uninstalled, unlike
> the active involvement of the classes. You might potentially get a problem
> at class uinstall time if a loose method is invoked that references a
> previously uninstalled.
>
>>
>> Comments?
>>
>
> Don't agree there is any kind of bug here - except in the 'SUnitBrowser
> Improvements' package you mention. I'm not familiar with it (it is not one
> we ship), but it sounds as though it has uninstall issues that need
> correcting. It is not possible for the system to be safe against errors
> during the uninstall process because the package author has complete
> freedom in how they write class uninitialise methods, and the package
> uninstall scripts. These do have to be written to avoid creating order
> dependencies.
>
> Regards
>
> Blair
>