Open denelon opened 2 months ago
Would it also be a good idea to detect and inform the user what the other "installer technology" is, even if only possible part of the time?
I'm open to that. I don't know users necessarily understand, but if we're linking to documentation with guidance they could certainly learn. WinGet does know the installer type for the currently installed version in almost every case, and it does know the new type based on the manifest for the newer version, otherwise the error message wouldn't be possible.
I think it would go a long way. I don't have a problem with having to uninstall. I just have a problem with not knowing what the next step is. If I knew how something was installed, I'd have a better idea of what to do next
I would say users would be more likely to understand "technology has changed from X to Y" significantly more than the vague "It's changed, but we're not going to tell you what from or to!"
When installer types change between versions of packages, WinGet displays:
A newer version was found, but the install technology is different from the current version installed. Please uninstall the package and install the newer version.
This causes users to be frustrated and or confused. Documentation should be added to Microsoft Learn for this case so users can be informed about the options, and the reasons for WinGet's behavior. In addition, an aka.ms URL should be added to the error message output so users can get more information and understand their options.
Originally posted by @denelon in https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli/discussions/2155#discussioncomment-9168359