gRPC Init command with custom directories not working

[andmeyee]

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I am playing around with arduino-cli's gRPC interface and Python. I am not able to set custom directories for dataDir, sketchbookDir and downloadsDir using the gRPC Init() method.All other gRPC methods seem to work as expected.

Bug Report

Current behavior

If I call client.Init(req) with req.dataDir set to a custom directory, it is still using the directories configured while starting the daemon.

Expected behavior

arduino-cli should use the directories specified within the req argument

Environment

• arduino-cli 0.7.2
• Linux (Ubuntu)
• Python 3

Additional context

None

[per1234]

Hi @andmeyee there is a new Settings interface that has replaced the system of setting the configuration via Init: https://github.com/arduino/arduino-cli/pull/521

The configuration passed to Init is now ignored: https://github.com/arduino/arduino-cli/pull/530

[andmeyee]

Thanks @per1234 for pointing that out. I was not aware of the new settings interface, but using it works as expected. Updating the client_example might be a good idea to make others aware of this.

Using the settings interface, I assume that I change the corresponding settings (e.g. directories) on a global basis for the running arduino-cli daemon. This means that I am not able to set different settings per instance anymore? That would be nice if multiple applications are connecting to the arduino-cli daemon.

[masci]

Hi @andmeyee you're right, at this moment settings are global, and this is by design since we wanted to make consistent the settings API that previously was ambiguous.

I understand the requirements of being capable to override some settings for specific instances, I'm marking this issue as a Feature Request and will work on an API to achieve that, thanks for your feedback.

[andmeyee]

Thanks @masci for marking this as a feature request. Happy to give it a try if a first implementation is available.

[kittaakos]

Hi @andmeyee you're right, at this moment settings are global,

@masci, before the introduction of the new Settings API, two services were available: the ArduinoCore and the Monitor. I thought the clear separation of these two services was based on the fact that the Monitor service is entirely independent of the ArduinoCore since one could tune the datadir, sketchbookdir, downloadsdir, and the boardmanageradditionalurlsList in the InitRequest's Configuration. So it made sense to have one single gRPC monitor client and several Arduino core clients, as they were initialized differently.

My questions would be the followings:

• Knowing that the settings are global, would you still recommend downstream consumers of the CLI to maintain multiple ArduinoCore gRPC clients, or is it safe to have one and share it?
• If it is safe to share one ArduinoCore gRPC client, what is the benefit of having three different types of clients (Settings, ArduinoCore, and Monitor)? As a consumer of the CLI, I have to maintain the lifecycle of three different gRPC clients, although they're connected to the same server.

Any kind of feedback is welcome on this topic; I am trying to figure out whether we can simplify the architecture of the Pro IDE. Thank you!