[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #41767: plugin uninstall improvement

[WordPress Trac]

#41767: plugin uninstall improvement
-----------------------------+-----------------------------
 Reporter:  petersplugins    |      Owner:
     Type:  feature request  |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal           |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Plugins          |    Version:
 Severity:  normal           |   Keywords:
  Focuses:  administration   |
-----------------------------+-----------------------------
 Cleaning up data on plugin uninstall can be done via
 register_uninstall_hook() or uninstall.php. But at this point it is not
 possible to communicate with the user. So it is not possible to ask if
 data created by the plugin should be deleted or kept for later.

 Many developers solve this by adding an option to the settings page of
 their plugin. This is not really user-friendly. Enabling the user to
 choose whether data should be deleted or kept on uninstall would be much
 better.

 To achieve this the simplest solution in my opinion would be to add a new
 line to the Plugin Header. Something like e.g.
 {{{
 Creates Data: No/Yes
 }}}
 If set to YES the "Delete" link on the Plugin Page should be replaced with
 two links - "Delete Plugin & Keep Data" and "Delete Plugin And Data" or
 similar. Only if the user clicks on "Delete Plugin And Data" the uninstall
 hook should fire resp. the uninstall.php should be executed. So there
 would be no need to change the code.

 If set to NO it would be possible to somehow inform that the plugin does
 not create any extra data. So the user knows that there will be no garbage
 after uninstall.

 If the line is missing inside the Plugin Header the plugin uninstall
 should work as before.

 This solution would be a huge improvement with little effort, I think.

--
Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/41767>
WordPress Trac <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/>
WordPress publishing platform