[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #27196: More informative message when plugin installs fail (patch attached)

[WordPress Trac]

#27196: More informative message when plugin installs fail (patch attached)
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 Reporter:  DavidAnderson    |      Owner:
     Type:  enhancement      |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal           |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Upgrade/Install  |    Version:  trunk
 Severity:  normal           |   Keywords:
  Focuses:                   |
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 I am an author for a very popular plugin. About once a week, I get a
 support request from someone who tried to update their plugin via
 installing a new version in the WP dashboard, *without de-installing the
 existing version first*.

 I wonder how many man hours in the WordPress world are lost to telling
 people "you need to de-install the existing version of the plugin first"!
 Too many for my liking.

 The existing message, "Destination folder already exists. /home/mywebsite
 /wp-content/plugins/my-plugin/" is not clear enough for many non-expert
 users to deduce the cause. Non-expert users don't know the structure of
 the WordPress filesystem, and won't realise that this simply means "you've
 already got that plugin, and we don't allow this." And crucially, neither
 does it indicate to the non-expert user *how to solve the problem*.

 The attached patch makes the cause and the solution clearer, and hopefully
 should help a lot of plugin authors to spend more time coding and less
 explaining WP's internals! :-)

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/27196>
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