MySQL Bugs: #4217: Multiple Uninstallation Entries in Add/Remove Programs

Bug #4217	Multiple Uninstallation Entries in Add/Remove Programs
Submitted:	19 Jun 2004 10:03	Modified:	17 Aug 2009 16:41
Reporter:	Dean Goddard	Email Updates:
Status:	Closed	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL Server: Installing	Severity:	S3 (Non-critical)
Version:	4.0.20a, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0	OS:	Windows
Assigned to:	Iggy Galarza	CPU Architecture:	Any

Description:
In upgrading from 4.0.17 to 4.0.20a, the documentation said in a nut shell to backup my database, download the latest version and install it.

It all worked well accept now I have two entries in my (registry) Add/Remove Programs.  One to uninstall 4.0.17, which most likely won't work, and one for 4.0.20a.

I have edited my registry to manually remove the invalid entry.

How to repeat:
Install 4.0.17.  Install 4.0.20a.

Suggested fix:
Make the installation program:
 - ask if upgrading an existing version or installing a new version.
 - if upgrading, remove the 4.0.17 uninstall registry settings.

Yes this is a limitation of the current Installer program.

Bug #12250 was marked as duplicate of this one.

Unable to reproduce originally reported behavior where two different revisions (.17 to .20a) of a single major version (4.1) cause multiple entries in "Add/Remove Programs". I was able to duplicate the behavior described in the duplicate bug#12250 where two different types(essential and full) of the same revision of the same major version cause multiple entries in "Add/Remove Programs". The following proposed patch addresses only this symptom in versions 4+.

Proposed patch

Attachment: bug4217.patch (application/octet-stream, text), 7.21 KiB.

A note has been added to the 5.1.32, 5.4.0, 6.0.10, 5.0.78, 4.1.26 changelogs: 

When installing MySQL on Windows, it could be possible to install multiple editions (Complete, and Essential, for example) of the same version of MySQL, leading to two separate entries in the installed packages which were impossible to isolate. This could lead to problems with installation and uninstallation. The MySQL installer on Windows will no longer allow multiple installations of the same version of MySQL on a single machine.