Can I run from the same folder with different configs?

[van1027]

Hello, is it possible to run two A1111 instances from the same folder with different configs simultaneously? E.g. one is using GPU 0 and another is using GPU 1. Would they conflict or it should be ok?

[w-e-w]

I think it "should" be ok for the most part
but might have some minor issues

mostly ones things that writes to the same file
one instance me over what's written by the other instance for example your config.json (aka settings files)
some operations may write such as changeing the sd_model will write to setting

theres also a chance that if two boath wants to write to the same file at the time, some strange issues may occur

for doing image generation better use a name schema for your images that is unlikely to collide
and I thinks it's best not to install extensions if you have two instances open at once

[w-e-w]

depends on your definition it would run just fine
if you can deal with that then that's fine
you could also just have two config.json

Can I run from the same folder with different configs?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by config
you could mean the same config.json

or you could mean the webui as a whole, like venv and extension models ... as "configurations" so I can't tell

so I'm going on the assumption that you're doing this because you want to save space and not install two instances
sharing files that can be sure to save space
which is totally doable

you can launch two instances from the same venv models and more
these are basically only read operations which is totally fine to have multiple instances of

it's only write operation type stuff you need to worry about like saving settings
and if saving setting is the only thing you're worried about then you can just have two configuration files
if you want to make the two instances have the same settings then you can have extra script that would copy one setting to another on launch

[w-e-w]

oh and I think I read your question wrong

Can I run from the same folder with different configs?

I misread it as

Can I run from the same folder with "same" configs?

but basically the answer is the same from above

it's totally doable as long as you're not writing stuff that would collide each other

which is installing extensions dependencies

like if the 2 instance that shares the same venv that has "conflicting" dependencies and then no you would like to crash
but if the dependency don't conflict, it is totally normal to have stuff in venv that it dose not use

just lunch with two different config.json files and different cmd args on launch

[van1027]

Thank you for clarifications! Well, if the model selection is affecting shared files that's a clear "no" for me. One of the main reasons why I wanted to run two instances in parallel is that 2 users keep stepping on each other toes by selecting the model they like.

[w-e-w]

One of the main reasons why I wanted to run two instances in parallel is that 2 users keep stepping on each other toes by selecting the model they like.

if that is what you ware trying to achive then is should work

the configuration file is only read during loading of the UI
after the ui has loaded the the cofig is kept in "memory"
when settings change are applyed or stuff like model change, it get written to the config.json file
it ONLY writes and dose not READ from config.json, webui dose not cares what is on the actual file, it only cares what is in the memory.

The only issue is when a user keep some setting change it "permanent"

like you don't care about the model setting but you may care about say the image save format

example
2 webui instances A and B
usere 1 save the setting to webui instance A, but later user 2 save some other setting from webui instance B, the setting from B will overwrite whatever changes that was done by A,
but even the setting from A is overwritten, A won't notice and continue to function normally as if the setting is applied
only until webui A is restarted will notice an issuem, because now during load webui dose read the config.json and will load up the setting that was written to by B, the setting change by A will be gone as it is overwritten

So if the thing you ONLY cares is models switching then it is will work

all that said
you can always just use two different config files by specifying a two different --ui-settings-file and all the above issue will go away

this should trivial for you because you already need two different launch config for GPU0 and GPU1

if you going to do so better also set a diffrent paths for other things like --ui-settings-file and --styles-file as well, if boath instances wirtes to the filem things may be lost

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I belive the only thing that might cause major issues is that if two instances are running two different sets of extensions and if these extentions would conflict with each other, causing issue in the venv.
or when trying to install extension dependencies when the venv is inactive use might cause insulation to fail

note: the above only apply for the base webui and for most cases
but as extensions can do "anything" it is totally possible that a special extension can invalidate what I said above

[van1027]

Right, thank you for detailed answers! That makes sense now. I guess as long as I run the same branch with the same extensions and coordinate updates that should work... Another thing to check is to limit the shared RAM consumption...