How to upgrade to Web UI 1.6.2

lphelan · 26 May 2022 15:42

There are no instructions on upgrading in the Web UI Guide https://duplicacy.com/guide.html. A quick search on “how to upgrade web ui” showed a couple of confused threads, but nowhere do I find a clear step-by-step set of instructions.

Anyway, I forged ahead without instructions. I didn’t recall specifically if it’s needed with Web UI, but I ran the 1.6.2 installer as admin, to make sure the service got installed. It completed, complained that the service was already installed, and “finished.” Surfed to the 127… Web UI IP and it’s still version 1.5.0. In Program Files/Duplicacy Web Edition are two exe files, 1.5.0 and 1.6.2. Can’t delete 1.5.0 - “The action can’t be completed because the file is open in Duplicacy Web Edition.” What?

Seeing the …Uninstall.exe in the folder, I realized I didn’t uninstall 1.5.0. I ran the uninstall, it “finished,” but trying again to install 1.6.2 produced the same result. I noticed that the Uninstall process didn’t change any of the files in Program Files/Duplicacy Web Edition. I rebooted and still can’t delete the 1.5.0 exe.

Rummaging around some more, I notice that there’s a DuplicacyWebEdition folder in AppData/Local, which contains only a 1.6.2 exe, among some other files that are duplicated in Program Files/Duplicacy Web Edition. Why are these files in two places? Will I get different results if I run the uninstall.exe from AppData?

This whole thing is quite confusing. I’d just like to upgrade to 1.6.2 and it shouldn’t be this difficult. I will be grateful for some assistance.

gchen · 26 May 2022 16:17

If you install the web GUI for one user, then it is installed under AppData/Local. But if you install for all users, then it is installed under Program Files.

It looks like that 1.5.0 is still running as service. In this case you’ll need to run the uninstaller as administrator to uninstall the service. If you’ve already deleted the shortcut folder then you can remove the service manually in a DOS window (run as administrator) by running this command:

sc delete "Duplicacy Web Edition"

lphelan · 26 May 2022 20:18

Thank you @gchen for your quick reply. When I tried installing the 2nd time I must have installed for one user, causing the Duplicacy directories in two places.

I ran the uninstall as admin and it removed the service and removed the Program Files/Duplicacy directory. I ran the install as admin, chose Install for All Users, and it installed in Program Files and installed the service. Duplicacy 1.6.2 is now running fine, and I removed the spurious AppData directory.

Please consider improving the Duplicacy documentation. The only official doc I found (the Guide) says only “On Windows and macOS, Duplicacy Web Edition is provided as installers. Installation is needed before you can start the executable.” There’s much more that should be said, such as running the installer as admin (installs as a service) vs. not as admin. Also there is no information on uninstalling or upgrading. There should be detailed instructions. Publish this info and there will be a lot fewer forum posts on these subjects.

hiavi · 17 January 2023 22:18

I agree with @lphelan - it would help immensely to have some documentation on upgradation process. Backup is something people are very conscious and apprehensive about making some mistakes.

Since Mac Ventura - I have been seeing so many apps that do not get cleaned up by merely moving the app from Applications folder to Trash. The apps running background keep bringing notifications of apps that were already removed - Ok i have had enough. Someone please tell me how you remove this louise pontoise | Readwise

Being able to clean apps properly and reinstalling is becoming an “I am not sure” state of mind.

saspus · 17 January 2023 22:32

On a Mac I recommend App Cleaner: it integrates as an extension, and prompts to delete some relevant data when it detects you sent one of the apps to trash—stuff like preferences, caches, logs, etc. AppCleaner

Unfortunately, Duplicacy Web UI is not being a nice OS citizen: it disregards all guidelines and specifications and dumps all data to ~/.duplicacy_web folder. So, if you want to nuke it completely—just delete that folder (Press Command + Shift + . in Finder to see hidden, including dot, files)

For upgrades however—just drag new version to /Applications and overwrite the old one. There is nothing else to do. There is no need for documentation or tutorials.

App bundle is a directory structure, and overwriting folders on a Mac replaces content (unlike windows, where it merges content, which is absolutely obnoxious but people are so used to it that most even think it’s OK), so it works as intended. Apps that seem to linger likely create resources outside where they are supposed to.

hiavi · 18 January 2023 19:06

Upgrade by overwriting the existing application fails saying that the app is running.

On Mac, what is the best way to gracefully stop Duplicacy running in the background?

As it is a Web App running in the background with UI shown through browser, we don’t the option to use CMD + Q. Just opening Activity monitor and quit/force-quit seems brutish - I am not sure if apps get “informed” about quit/force-quit to do any clean up.

saspus · 18 January 2023 19:35

Then it’s running. If you have a menu bar icon for duplicacy you can quit it from there.

It’s normal. Quit is asking to quit, force quit is telling to quit. Either one is fine. I would not worry about being polite to the program. Just nuke it. OS will do all necessary system resources cleanup.

If you worry that some data can get corrupted - that is not the case. Furthermore, if you are using any other program that gets into bad state after being abruptly stopped — discontinue using it, because clearly developers did not care enough about user data to design data transactions properly. App shall expect to be killed any time and shall withstand that gracefully.