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config dump omits per-file overlays and inherited default-component-config

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@liunan-ms is already working on this.

Since Aug 20, 2026.

  • #337 by @liunan-ms — open

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Description

bug GA blocker
Summary

azldev config dump presents itself as showing the "fully resolved project configuration", but it stops at the file-level merge and does not run the per-component resolver. As a result, two important sources of effective configuration are invisible in the dump even though builds honor them:

  1. overlay-files expansion — overlays loaded from overlays/*.overlay.toml (per-file overlay format, docs) never appear in components.<name>.overlays.
  2. Inherited default-component-config — fields injected from project/distro/component-group defaults never appear on the concrete component.

Downstream commands (build, render, prepare-sources, diff-sources) do run the resolver (applyInheritedDefaultsToComponent → ExpandResolvedOverlayFiles), so the artifacts they produce are correct. The gap is display-only, but it makes config dump misleading as an authoring/debugging aid.

Repro

Given a component using the per-file overlay format:

# base/comps/GraphicsMagick/GraphicsMagick.comp.toml
[components.GraphicsMagick]
overlay-files = ["overlays/*.overlay.toml"]

# base/comps/GraphicsMagick/overlays/0001-drop-libheif-build-dependency.overlay.toml
[metadata]
category = "azl-dep-missing-workaround"

[[overlays]]
type = "spec-remove-tag"
tag = "BuildRequires"
value = "libheif-devel"

Then:

$ azldev config dump -f json | jq '.components.GraphicsMagick.overlays'
null

But azldev component list -p GraphicsMagick -O json | jq '.[0].Overlays' shows the overlay, and azldev component render -p GraphicsMagick correctly removes the BuildRequires: libheif-devel line from the rendered spec.

Impact
  • Confuses users during authoring — a config that clearly "works" appears empty in the dump, prompting incorrect "my overlays aren't being applied" diagnoses.
  • Blocks the documented pattern of using azldev config dump -q -O json | jq ... for ad-hoc queries about effective component config (works today only for fields authored inline).
  • Makes the MCP config-dump tool less useful for coding agents that ask "what is the effective config for component X?".
Suggested fix

Add a flag to config dump that runs the per-component resolver before serialization. Some options:

  • A (preferred): azldev config dump --resolved (or --expand) — off by default to preserve today's round-trippable output; when set, iterates components through the resolver and replaces the components map with resolved copies (including expanded overlays and merged inherited defaults).
  • B: Always dump the resolved view; drop the round-trippability guarantee. Breaking change; probably not worth it.
  • C: Documentation-only — clarify in Long help and config-file.md that config dump is pre-resolver and point users to component list -O json for the resolved view. Cheapest fix but doesn't help the MCP-tool case.

Happy to send a PR for option A if the team agrees on the shape.

Related code
  • Dump entry point: internal/app/azldev/cmds/config/dump.go — marshals raw env.Config().
  • Resolver used by build/render/prepare-sources: internal/app/azldev/core/components/resolver.go — Resolver.FindComponents → getComponentFromNameAndSpecPath → applyInheritedDefaultsToComponent → ExpandResolvedOverlayFiles.
  • Feature introduced by PR #256 (per-file overlays / inherited overlay-files); this gap has existed since then.
Dominant language
Go
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Avg merge
6d 19h
Merged PRs (30d)
19

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