[Spambayes] Update to 0.81 deleted md db

[Tim Peters]

[Kenneth Hart]
> Thanks for your reply. Do you not even want to see any log files?
> Do you knot even want to know the environment? It happened as I
> stated, I did not select to "rebuild entire db". While I understand
> that you encounter novice users that do this type of thing, please
> respect that it happened as I stated. You appear to have decided
> that "that simply can't happen".
>
> I asked a question that you didn't answer. Does the install do a
> backup of the db prior to installation?

No, it doesn't.

> If not, why not??

Well, for the same reason it doesn't back up, e.g., msvcrt.dll, or any of thousands of other files on your box -- installation doesn't touch it.

> At least anticipate problems & offer the end user the option to
> backup the db.
>
> I am frustrated as I now must re-train SB. I have been using SB for
> five months & feel that all of that time in training is now lost
> because you didn't give me the option during the upgrade to backup my
> db.

If the installer doesn't touch the db, it wouldn't make sense to offer such an option.

> Do not just blame it on me. Do not simply write this off to the
> folly of an inexperienced user. While you may have never seen this
> behavior, rest assured, it happened! I have been working with PC's
> & networks for 16 years. As a network consultant I have some idea
> as to what not to do. I am reporting to you a problem that I
> encountered. Give this report its due attention.

If you have 16 years' experience, then you're surely aware of the need for backing up *all* your data frequently, and especially on Windows.  It's not Mark's fault if you were lax in that regard.

WRT your bug report, you have to try to see the other side of it too:  yours is the only report of this kind we've seen, and Mark wrote the installer code and knows it doesn't delete the database.  I don't question that your database went missing, but Mark is being helpful in ruling out your guess at the cause.  There's some chance that he's wrong, but offhand (having known Mark for years) I have to judge there's a greater chance that some other nastiness was at work in your case.

Making a copy of the database before installation may be a prudent safeguard against those as-yet-unknown gremlins; whether it's worth the bother based on a one-sentence incident report isn't clear (the time Mark spends on that would be taken away from other spambayes work; if you're convinced it's worth it, then the most helpful thing you could do is contribute code to make it happen).