Upgrading a Tarball installation - what files need to be preserved between versions?

[Gilles Caulier]

Remo,

Paul ask about windows binary tarball, with the executables only, not
the source code.

This version do not require admin right to install the program in the
home directory.

The files created under Windows by the application can be found here :

https://docs.digikam.org/en/getting_started/installation.html#configuration-files

Best

Gilles Caulier

Le sam. 1 juil. 2023 à 11:31, Remco Viëtor <remco.vietor at wanadoo.fr> a écrit :
>
> On samedi 1 juillet 2023 10:26:45 CEST Paul Norman wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > If using a tarball like:
> >
> >     https://download.kde.org/stable/digikam/8.0.0/
> >     digiKam-8.0.0-Win64.tar.xz
> >
> >     https://files.kde.org/digikam/
> >     digiKam-8.1.0-20230628T051544-Win64.tar.xz
> >
> > And you later wanted to use the tarball for 8.1.0 when it is released
> > (or in the meanwhile a new pre-release from
> > https://files.kde.org/digikam/ ) — what files would you need to first
> > copy/backup safely, then after the new tarball (8.1.0) was unpacked over
> > the earlier 8.0.0  (or earlier 8.1.0 pre-release) – copy back into place
> > please?
> >
> > TIA,
> >
> > Paul
>
> As far as files from the tarball are concerned, none as long as you keep the
> 8.0.0 archive: IMO it's better to redo the full compilation if needed, it
> avoids stupid mistakes and trouble due to library changes.
>
> I'd also unpack the 8.1.0-x tarball besides the 8.0.0 tree, in case I ever
> want/need to compare the two. If you don't want to do that, and still have the
> 8.0.0 archive, I'd probably delete the 8.0.0 tree prior to unpacking the
> 8.1.0-x archive. Same when you switch to a stable version later.
> As far as the installed program is concerned, it depends on how/where the
> program files are installed. If you keep the 8.0.0 source tree, I'd uninstall
> that version before installing a new one (avoiding subtle bugs when some
> installed files change, but are not overwritten/removed). Note that that is
> for the program files, NOT the user data (which should be completely separate,
> and not touched by an uninstall)
>
>