ionic capacitor sync --configuration doesn't work

[tobiloeb]

Description:
We try to use a different configuration file for the ionic-cli sync command. We need this, cause we have different stages and want to configure our app different for production.
The documentation says, that there is an option "--configuration=<conf>" to specify the configuration to use. https://ionicframework.com/docs/cli/commands/capacitor-sync#advanced-options
But this isn't working.

The sync command always use the config "capacitor.config.json" and not our specified configuration file. I always check the capacitor.config.json in android/app/src/main/assets/capacitor.config.json - its not changing.

Am I doing something completely wrong? Thanks for any help!
Tobias

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Just add another config file: "capacitor.config.test.json"
2. Try to use this configuration with the sync command: "ionic capacitor sync android --configuration=capacitor.config.test.json"

Output:
The sync will NOT use the "capacitor.config.test.json".

ionic capacitor sync android --configuration=capacitor.config.test.json --verbose
> capacitor.cmd sync android
...
√ Copying capacitor.config.json in 3.33ms

My ionic info:

$ ionic info

Ionic:

   Ionic CLI                     : 5.4.16 (C:\Users\v121139\AppData\Local\Yarn\Data\global\node_modules\ionic)
   Ionic Framework               : @ionic/angular 5.3.4
   @angular-devkit/build-angular : 0.901.12
   @angular-devkit/schematics    : 9.1.12
   @angular/cli                  : 9.1.12
   @ionic/angular-toolkit        : 2.3.3

Capacitor:

   Capacitor CLI   : 2.4.2
   @capacitor/core : 2.4.2

Cordova:

   Cordova CLI       : 10.0.0
   Cordova Platforms : not available
   Cordova Plugins   : not available

Utility:

   cordova-res : not installed
   native-run  : not installed

System:

   NodeJS : v10.16.3 (D:\Programme\node-v10.16.3-win-x64\node.exe)
   npm    : 6.9.0
   OS     : Windows 10

Environment:

   HTTP_PROXY  : http://localhost:3128/
   http_proxy  : http://localhost:3128/
   HTTPS_PROXY : http://localhost:3128
   https_proxy : http://localhost:3128

Done in 12.16s.

Other Information:
Here is the command with --verbose. The configuration is set BUT at the end the wrong config is copied: "√ Copying capacitor.config.json in 3.33ms"

ionic capacitor sync android --configuration=capacitor.config.test.json --verbose
  ionic:lib Terminal info: { ci: false, shell: 'C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\cmd.exe', tty: true, windows: true } +0ms
  ionic:lib CLI global options: { _: [ 'capacitor', 'sync', 'android' ], help: null, h: null, verbose: true, quiet: null, interactive: true, color: true, confirm: null, json: null, configuration: 'capacitor.config.test.json', projec
t: null, '--': [] } +4ms
  ionic:lib:project Project type from config: @ionic/angular (angular) +0ms
  ionic:lib:project Project details: { configPath: 'D:\\mcd-app\\mcd-app-ui\\ionic.config.json', errors: [], context: 'app', type: 'angular' } +0ms
  ionic Context: { binPath: 'C:\\Users\\v121139\\AppData\\Local\\Yarn\\Data\\global\\node_modules\\ionic\\bin\\ionic', libPath: 'C:\\Users\\v121139\\AppData\\Local\\Yarn\\Data\\global\\node_modules\\ionic', execPath: 'D:\\mcd-app\\m
cd-app-ui', version: '5.4.16' } +0ms
  ionic:lib:telemetry Sending telemetry for command: 'ionic capacitor sync' [ 'android',
  ionic:lib:telemetry   '--verbose',
  ionic:lib:telemetry   '--interactive',
  ionic:lib:telemetry   '--color',
  ionic:lib:telemetry   '--configuration=capacitor.config.test.json' ] +0ms
> capacitor.cmd sync android
√ Copying web assets from build to android\app\src\main\assets\public in 3.23s
√ Copying native bridge in 2.79ms
√ Copying capacitor.config.json in 3.33ms
  Found 1 Cordova plugin for android
    cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aio (3.0.1)
√ copy in 3.34s
√ Updating Android plugins in 13.21ms
  Found 1 Capacitor plugin for android:
    capacitor-secure-storage-plugin (0.4.0)
  Found 1 Cordova plugin for android
    cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aio (3.0.1)
√ update android in 107.76ms
Sync finished in 3.471s
Done in 7.32s.

[imhoffd]

--configuration is for the Angular configuration to use during the web asset build. The help output probably makes this clearer: ionic cap sync --help.

If you're interested, there is an active PR for supporting capacitor.config.js files, so multiple config files wouldn't be necessary: ionic-team/capacitor#3756

[tobiloeb]

Thanks for the answer. Then I misunderstood the documentation.

Thanks for the PR, this would help us a lot.