(v2) appium install driver deletes previous installed driver(s) when installing multiple drivers.

The problem

I installed appium 2.0.0-beta.27 via npm, first installed uiautomator2 driver - run test with uiautomator2 -> all ok then installed espresso driver - run test with uiautomator2 again -> error:

Could not start a new session. Response code 500. Message: An unknown server-side error occurred while processing the command. Original error: Could not find a driver for automationName 'UIAutomator2' and platformName android'. Have you installed a driver that supports those capabilities? Run 'appium driver list --installed' to see. (Lower-level error: Cannot find module '/home/cmaganu/.appium/node_modules/appium-uiautomator2-driver

Environment

• Appium version (or git revision) that exhibits the issue: 2.0.0-beta.27
• Last Appium version that did not exhibit the issue (if applicable): -
• Desktop OS/version used to run Appium: Ubunntu 20.10
• Node.js version (unless using Appium.app|exe): v16.14.2
• Npm or Yarn package manager: npm 8.5.5
• Mobile platform/version under test: Android 10
• Real device or emulator/simulator: emulator
• Appium CLI or Appium.app|exe: cli

Details

• after appium driver install uiautomator2:

cmaganu@cma-x1:~/git/lt-appium-mobile-tests(main)$ ls -Al ~/.appium/node_modules/
total 128
drwxrwxr-x 5 cmaganu cmaganu   4096 mar 28 16:45 appium-uiautomator2-driver
drwxrwxr-x 3 cmaganu cmaganu   4096 mar 28 16:45 .cache
-rw-rw-r-- 1 cmaganu cmaganu 121877 mar 28 16:45 .package-lock.json

cmaganu@cma-x1:~/git/lt-appium-mobile-tests(main)$ cat  ~/.appium/node_modules/.cache/appium/extensions.yaml 
drivers:
  uiautomator2:
    automationName: UiAutomator2
    platformNames:
      - Android
    mainClass: AndroidUiautomator2Driver
    pkgName: appium-uiautomator2-driver
    version: 2.0.5
    installType: npm
    installSpec: uiautomator2
plugins: {}
schemaRev: 2

cmaganu@cma-x1:~/git/lt-appium-mobile-tests(main)$ appium driver list --installed
✔ Listing installed drivers
- uiautomator2@2.0.5 [installed (NPM)]

• after appium driver install espresso:

cmaganu@cma-x1:~/git/lt-appium-mobile-tests(main)$ appium driver list --installed
✔ Listing installed drivers
- uiautomator2@2.0.5 [installed (NPM)]
- espresso@2.2.0 [installed (NPM)]

cmaganu@cma-x1:~/git/lt-appium-mobile-tests(main)$ ls -Al ~/.appium/node_modules/
total 708
drwxrwxr-x 6 cmaganu cmaganu   4096 mar 28 16:49 appium-espresso-driver
drwxrwxr-x 3 cmaganu cmaganu   4096 mar 28 16:45 .cache
-rw-rw-r-- 1 cmaganu cmaganu 714864 mar 28 16:49 .package-lock.json

cmaganu@cma-x1:~/git/lt-appium-mobile-tests(main)$ cat  ~/.appium/node_modules/.cache/appium/extensions.yaml 
drivers:
  uiautomator2:
    automationName: UiAutomator2
    platformNames:
      - Android
    mainClass: AndroidUiautomator2Driver
    pkgName: appium-uiautomator2-driver
    version: 2.0.5
    installType: npm
    installSpec: uiautomator2
  espresso:
    automationName: Espresso
    platformNames:
      - Android
    mainClass: EspressoDriver
    pkgName: appium-espresso-driver
    version: 2.2.0
    installType: npm
    installSpec: espresso
plugins: {}
schemaRev: 2

.appium/package.json is empty

[cmaganu]

As for a workaround I just backed up the folder for the first driver (say uiautomator2) and copied it back after the installation of the second driver. 😄

[boneskull]

OK, I have a fix, will send a PR once I write a test for it.

you can workaround this by manually editing ~/.appium/package.json like so:

  {
    "dependencies": {
      "appium-espresso-driver": "^2.2.0",
      "appium-uiautomator2-driver": "^2.0.5"
    }
  }