Improvement: Moving secrets from USER_SETTINGS.cpp to platformio config

[No-Signal]

What

This PR moves user secrets from USER_SETTINGS.cpp & USER_SETTINGS.h into a platformio config file USER_SECRETS.ini

Why

This change makes it less likely that secrets are accidentally exposed by users committing them and makes it easier to maintain these secrets during development

How

• USER_SECRETS.ini is included as additional platformio configuration in platformio.ini
• A template file USER_SECRETS_TEMPLATE.ini is copied to USER_SECRETS.ini if it does not exist and acts as a base configuration file
• USER_SECRETS.ini has been added to .gitignore to ensure it is not accidentally tracked

[obbardc]

I'm in favour of this !

[dalathegreat]

Nice improvement! Does it work good for Arduino IDE users also?

[beadon]

I also like this approach. Testing ..

[No-Signal]

A different approach would be required to support Arduino IDE users which would require a one time manual action which I avoided with Platformio.

The best option I can see to support both Arduino IDE and Platformio is to create a USER_SECRETS_TEMPLATE.h file that users would need to copy to USER_SECRETS.h once manually. USER_SECRETS.h would be added to .gitignore to avoid accidental commits.

[dalathegreat]

Yeah well 99% of users are Arduino IDE users, so I guess we would need to cater to those 😅

[No-Signal]

I have updated the method to support both Arduino & VSCode users, it does require the manual step of copying the template file which I have added to the readme

[dalathegreat]

Doing this change will be a kind of "breaking" change that will require a new Youtube video to be put up. Otherwise my email will explode 😅

But I like the change!

[No-Signal]

For such a small code change the impact is significant. If there are other settings to move now is the time to do it

[lenvm]

@No-Signal, you should be able to add and commit the file USER_SECRETS.h in one commit, and only add this file to .gitignore in the next commit. That removes the need for all users to do the copy from USER_SECRETS.template.h to USER_SECRETS.h.

[No-Signal]

@lenvm my understanding is that once a file is being tracked in git adding it to .gitignore won't stop it tracking future changes

[lenvm]

@No-Signal, this can be solved.

Please do the following on your branch:

• comment USER_SECRETS.h in .gitignore
• git add .gitignore; git commit -m "comment USER_SECRETS.h in .gitignore"
• git mv Software/USER_SECRETS.TEMPLATE.h Software/USER_SECRETS.h
• git commit -m "rename USER_SECRETS.TEMPLATE.h to USER_SECRETS.h
• uncomment USER_SECRETS.h in .gitignore
• git add .gitignore; git commit -m "uncomment USER_SECRETS.h in .gitignore"

[No-Signal]

@lenvm if I follow your steps then all subsequent changes to USER_SECRETS.h are tracked by git which is what I'm attempting to avoid with this PR

[lenvm]

Git shouldn’t be tracking those changes after the last commit, where you add it to .gitignore.

Please ensure to run the following command.

git rm --cached USER_SECRETS.h

This I did not include in the steps above, but seems necessary if you are the one that created the file that you want to commit, and later not track anymore.

Try it out for yourself to confirm!

[No-Signal]

@lenvm my understanding is that everyone that pulls the code would need to run the git rm command for this approach to work

[lenvm]

Let’s try it out and see!

Even if that would be the case, it would be less intrusive than a breaking change for every user of the code, especially those that just download and compile and never plan to do any coding.

[No-Signal]

I have pushed my test feature branch up so you can test https://github.com/No-Signal/Battery-Emulator/tree/feature/user_secrets2

This solution is certainly easier for people to get up and running and was the initial method I tried before testing platformio then the template approach

The downside is it makes it much easier for people to accidentally commit secrets which is why most projects I have seen use a template file instead

[lenvm]

I have checked cloned your repository, and you are right.

Conclusions:

• Directly after checking out the repository, the change made to USER_SECRETS.h are indeed tracked by git.
• The changes are not tracked once you run the command git rm --cached Software/USER_SECRETS.h. Running this command leaves you with a changes to be committed: deleted:.
• As per this GitHub Gist, and "example" file (i.e. template) is the way to go, like you mentioned. If we go this route, we should add the copy step to the GitHub Actions as well (cp Software/USER_SECRETS.template.h Software/USER_SECRETS.h), to make sure the workflows don't fail.

[lenvm]

Perhaps also include MQTT_PORT in USER_SECRETS.h.

[lenvm]

@dalathegreat, what do you say? Shall we merge this?

The change is a real improvement, but does still impact your YouTube video :)

[dalathegreat]

LGTM 👍 Let's merge this since we are indeed releasing a major update :)