fix: keep the user client config when switching to a direct connect endpoint

When the server decorates the new session response with the directConnect*
capabilities, the client rebuilt its command executor out of the endpoint URL
alone. That silently dropped every setting of the AppiumClientConfig given by
the user, including the read timeout, the pool manager arguments, the proxy,
the CA bundle and the authentication credentials, and downgraded the config
instance to a plain selenium ClientConfig.

The most visible consequence was that the documented way of configuring a read
timeout had no effect on such sessions, so a hanging server call never timed
out. Reuse a copy of the current configuration and only replace the endpoint it
points to instead. Copying keeps the instance given by the user untouched.

It also stops the deprecated remote_server_addr/keep_alive constructor
arguments of RemoteConnection from being used.

Closes appium#855

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01PjZRpyoEfSCLjTx5ctzQmJ

Author: claude

README.md

@@ -327,6 +327,10 @@ driver = webdriver.Remote(
 )
 ```
 
+Only the endpoint the client talks to is replaced. The rest of the given `client_config`,
+such as `timeout`, `init_args_for_pool_manager`, proxy, certificates and authentication
+settings, keeps being applied to the requests sent to the direct connect endpoint.
+
 ## Relax SSL validation
 
 `strict_ssl` option allows you to send commands to an invalid certificate host like a self-signed one.

appium/webdriver/webdriver.py

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
+import copy
 from collections.abc import Callable
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any
 
@@ -318,11 +319,19 @@ def _update_command_executor(self, keep_alive: bool) -> None:
         executor = f'{protocol}://{hostname}:{port}{path}'
 
         logger.debug('Updated request endpoint to %s', executor)
+
         # Override command executor.
+        # The client configuration given by a user, e.g. the read timeout, the proxy or
+        # the authentication credentials, must be kept as-is. Only the endpoint the client
+        # talks to changes, thus a copy of the current configuration is reused instead of
+        # building a brand-new one out of the endpoint URL.
+        client_config = copy.copy(self.command_executor.client_config)
+        client_config.remote_server_addr = executor
+        client_config.keep_alive = keep_alive
         if isinstance(self.command_executor, AppiumConnection):  # type: ignore
-            self.command_executor = AppiumConnection(executor, keep_alive=keep_alive)
+            self.command_executor = AppiumConnection(client_config=client_config)
         else:
-            self.command_executor = RemoteConnection(executor, keep_alive=keep_alive)
+            self.command_executor = RemoteConnection(client_config=client_config)
         self._add_commands()
 
     # https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium/blob/06fdf2966df6bca47c0ae45e8201cd30db9b9a49/py/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py#L277

test/unit/webdriver/webdriver_test.py

@@ -136,6 +136,63 @@ def test_create_session_register_uridirect(self):
         assert driver.contexts == ['NATIVE_APP', 'CHROMIUM']
         assert isinstance(driver.command_executor, AppiumConnection)
 
+    @httpretty.activate
+    def test_create_session_register_uridirect_keeps_client_config(self):
+        """The client configuration given by a user must survive the direct connect switch.
+        https://github.com/appium/python-client/issues/855
+        """
+        httpretty.register_uri(
+            httpretty.POST,
+            f'{SERVER_URL_BASE}/session',
+            body=json.dumps(
+                {
+                    'sessionId': 'session-id',
+                    'capabilities': {
+                        'deviceName': 'Android Emulator',
+                        'directConnectProtocol': 'http',
+                        'directConnectHost': 'localhost2',
+                        'directConnectPort': 4800,
+                        'directConnectPath': '/special/path/wd/hub',
+                    },
+                }
+            ),
+        )
+
+        desired_caps = {
+            'platformName': 'Android',
+            'deviceName': 'Android Emulator',
+            'app': 'path/to/app',
+            'automationName': 'UIAutomator2',
+        }
+        client_config = AppiumClientConfig(
+            remote_server_addr=SERVER_URL_BASE,
+            direct_connection=True,
+            timeout=5,
+            username='user',
+            password='pass',
+            user_agent='custom-agent',
+            init_args_for_pool_manager={'init_args_for_pool_manager': {'retries': 3}},
+        )
+        driver = webdriver.Remote(
+            SERVER_URL_BASE,
+            options=UiAutomator2Options().load_capabilities(desired_caps),
+            client_config=client_config,
+        )
+
+        new_client_config = driver.command_executor.client_config
+        assert isinstance(new_client_config, AppiumClientConfig)
+        assert new_client_config.remote_server_addr == 'http://localhost2:4800/special/path/wd/hub'
+        assert new_client_config.timeout == 5
+        assert new_client_config.username == 'user'
+        assert new_client_config.password == 'pass'
+        assert new_client_config.user_agent == 'custom-agent'
+        assert new_client_config.init_args_for_pool_manager == {'init_args_for_pool_manager': {'retries': 3}}
+        assert new_client_config.direct_connection
+        assert new_client_config.keep_alive == client_config.keep_alive
+
+        # the configuration instance given by a user must not be modified in-place
+        assert client_config.remote_server_addr == SERVER_URL_BASE
+
     @httpretty.activate
     def test_create_session_register_uridirect_no_direct_connect_path(self):
         httpretty.register_uri(