[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #20578: Allow users to delete a plugin without uninstalling

[WordPress Trac]

#20578: Allow users to delete a plugin without uninstalling
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 Reporter:  scribu                               |       Owner:
     Type:  enhancement                          |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                               |   Milestone:  4.5
Component:  Plugins                              |     Version:
 Severity:  normal                               |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  ux-feedback ui-feedback has-patch    |     Focuses:  ui
  has-screenshots                                |
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Comment (by swissspidy):

 Replying to [comment:23 obenland]:
 > I find the case where you would want to hang on to data but delete
 plugin files to be an extreme edge case from a user's POV. Even the
 example provided here as to why this would be a worthwhile change cites a
 dev scenario.

 Thanks for chiming in! I thought the consensus was that this is welcome
 enhancement and just the details need to be set, but I'm happy to share my
 opinion on it.

 I first stumbled upon this after a [http://wp-magazin.ch/news
 /deinstallation-plugins-loeschen/ blog post] (in German) by
 @grapplerulrich back in 2014. He noted that many people tried to delete a
 plugin before uploading a newer version via the browser uploader. However,
 while doing so they completely removed all plugin data by accident. Being
 able to remove a plugin without deleting its data would prevent this.
 Related: #9757

 In the past few years I've seen many plugins (including WooCommerce and
 other big ones) creating custom uninstall routines just because users
 frequently uninstalled plugins unintentionally. There's a reason they did
 this, and it's clear to me that it's because WordPress doesn't prevent
 this, which this ticket aims to solve.

 > How many of our users will know the difference between only deleting
 files and deleting files and data? How many of them will be even more
 confused by that option?

 With some clear wording this is a non-issue. IMHO the difference between
 "just delete files" and "completely uninstall the plugin" is clear and
 people are used to such scenarios from other software.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/20578#comment:25>
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