Breaking changes due to moving config to the UI - a plea

Posting in uncategorised because this is a general plea to the developers and not related to a specific change.

Integrations are gradually moving to the UI for configuration. That’s great for new users, but it often causes pain for existing users with configuration entries in their YAML files.

I hit this a while ago with the Met Office weather integration, which broke on the update and when re-configured through the UI, my entity names had changed, necessitating a certain amount of re-work in automations.

Reading the breaking changes for 0.113, I’m nervous about upgrading - I use RFXtrx, and there’s a major change in that one. I’m putting it off until I’ve got time to concentrate on it.

In my opinion, both YAML and UI configuration should be supported - the front end just acting as an editor for what’s set up in YAML. Unfortunately I know that’s been endlessly discussed and won’t happen.

So here’s my plea to developers - if you’re moving integration config from YAML to the front end, please, please ensure that it imports the existing configuration - including entity names - from the existing YAML files. Make it seamless. If nothing’s changed in the functionality of the underlying integration, moving config to the UI shouldn’t require the user to make changes.

In an ideal world, breaking changes would be limited to things that are imposed from outside of HA - API changes, deprecation from vendors etc.

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I guess you could voice your opinion in The future of YAML

Yes, but I think that conversation has been done to death - it’s a long thread!

This is a slightly different point - I don’t object too strongly to moving the config out of YAML, as long as it’s done in a way that doesn’t cause a breaking change.

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I eventually got sick of OpenHAB for a very similar reason, moved to Home Assistant and found a new home… but 0.113 makes me nervous again, I’ve spent considerable time with my LightwaveRF mood switches and still don’t have it working properly. Have rolled back to 0.112.4 until I’ve calmed down a bit and have more time.

Would be great if I had a) time b) a spare device c) more understanding family to participate in the earlier beta trials. But the fact is, I don’t.