[Bug]: Changing the name of a service removes it from Homekit

[lougreenwood]

Describe the bug
When changing the name of a service (e.g a switch) in Node Red, the corresponding device in Homekit is destroyed and a new one is created.

This means that any automations in Homekit which make use of the device/service which just had it's name changed are now broken.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behaviour:

1. Change the name of a device in Node Red which is associated with some automation in HomeKit
2. See that on deploy, the automation is broken because the device is no longer associated with it

Expected behaviour
Changing the name of a service in Node Red should not cause side effects in Homekit

[Shaquu]

According to HomeKit documentation by Apple Name should be persistent through the life of Accessory

[lougreenwood]

Interesting, thanks.... however, somehow Philips Hue allows changing the accessory name and it doesn't break the automations. Any ideas?

Also, I wonder why the Home app allows changing the name, if it's intended to be immutable?

[Shaquu]

It's why I used Accessory word :)
We are working on it.

[lougreenwood]

Thinking about this some more - I suppose this would allow Node Red/Homekit bridge portability between hardware installations?

For example, if I need to re-install node red & the HomeKit bridge on a new system and importing my existing config (something I'm considering, since I started my Node Red journey on a Raspberry Pi with Home Assistant, but I'm now realising I don't need Home Assistant, only Node Red). I presume that when this feature is implemented, then Homekit would in future recognise the devices as the same ones, and existing automations would continue to operate?

Is this a goal of the project?

[Shaquu]

@lougreenwood being native HomeKit as much as possible is our goal.
We are working to improve namings but it takes time as we need to be backward compatible.

[Shaquu]

1. Name assigned in NodeRED cannot be changed - we are speaking about device identity
2. For some Accessories/Services there is an option to change (separate) name displayed in Home.app. It should be possible in [FEATURE] Persist Bridge/Accessory/Service state #53

[crxporter]

Consolidating issues, please continue at #231 - it's pretty much the same thing