For actions that allows retrying, let the user retry again

[christianrondeau]

Most of the time, if an action has to be retried, it's because A) the software is still running, or B) some of the uninstall actions are taking longer than expected, or C) I have a file opened in some software, e.g. a config file opened in a text editor.

In many cases, the user could solve the issue and retry; by now "ignoring" the error, we leave junk that could be avoided.

Suggestion:

Maximum tries of 3 reached. Try again? (Yes/No):

Example of what it currently does:

vagrant v1.6.3
 vagrant has been successfully uninstalled.
This is try 1/3. Retrying after 300 milliseconds.
 Error converted to warning:
 Cannot create a file when that file already exists.

This is try 2/3. Retrying after 400 milliseconds.
 Error converted to warning:
 Cannot create a file when that file already exists.

Maximum tries of 3 reached. Throwing error.
Move failed with message:
 Cannot create a file when that file already exists.

 Attempting backup move method.

vagrant v1.6.5
 Skipping auto uninstaller - AutoUninstaller feature is not enabled.
 Skipping auto uninstaller - AutoUninstaller feature is not enabled.
 vagrant has been successfully uninstalled.

For more details: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/chocolatey/UVncL7PxXRg

(Moved from chocolatey-archive/chocolatey#697)

[christianrondeau]

I'm currently looking into this; if we're to allow users to manually retry, they should know what they are retrying. Right now, Chocolatey does not tell you what it's attempting to do, only what the error was. I would suggest a slightly different output, that tries to keep the operation hidden until the user needs to know what the operation is:

Operation failed (1/3): Cannot create a file when that file already exists.
Retrying after 300 milliseconds...
Operation failed (2/3): Cannot create a file when that file already exists.
Retrying after 300 milliseconds...
Operation failed (3/3): Cannot create a file when that file already exists.
Chocolatey could not execute this operation: Write file 'c:\example.txt'
Try again? (yes/no): y
Operation failed: Cannot create a file when that file already exists.
Try again? (yes/no): n
Attempting backup move method.

What do you think? The alternative would be to say what the operation is upfront; it would be easier to understand but would also greatly clutter the output (there are 7 instances of retryable file system operations)

[christianrondeau]

Quick FYI; this will be pending for #181 since I need the Console.ReadLine but in the meantime, I tried to still move forward. The branch in progress is here: https://github.com/chocolatey/choco/compare/master...christianrondeau:189-manual-retry?expand=1

All tests are green, here's where it's at:

• Allow passing a description to retry that will be shown once all retries have been exhausted
• Shorten messages to fit my previous comment
• Add a description to all usages of retry throughout the code
• Add a parameter to specify if user retries are allowed (in practice, since all would be retryable I would have changed the signature, but I understand you prefer not changing/removing features from the infrastructure code)
• Implement the manual retry prompt and failure messages

By the way, is this helping at all?

[github-actions]

Is this still relevant? If so, what is blocking it? Is there anything you can do to help move it forward?
This issue will be closed in 14 days if it continues to be inactive.

[github-actions]

Dear contributor,

As this issue seems to have been inactive for quite some time now, it has been automatically closed.
If you feel this is a valid issue, please feel free to re-open the issue if / when a pull request
has been added.
Thank you for your contribution.