# Config Overrides

Background and reasoning behind design decisions in splam. This page won't tell you how to do something. See the How-To Guides for that.


# Why admin-task notes and highlight keywords are a code + override pair

`SERVICE_INFO` in `service_info.py` and `_PATTERNS` in `highlight.py` are plain Python data structures. That keeps the app dependency-free (no database, no migration), makes the shipped defaults reviewable as an ordinary code change, and lets a `SERVICE_INFO` entry be shared across multiple unit-name aliases (`ssh.service` / `sshd.service`) without duplication.

Changes made through the **Configure** button don't touch that code. They're written to two JSON files in the app's data directory (`service_info_overrides.json` and `highlight_overrides.json`), which are merged on top of the built-in data at read time (override wins on a key collision). This gives operators a way to add or correct guidance and highlighting per deployment, without a code change or redeploy, while keeping the reviewed defaults in version control. The tradeoff: overrides live on the instance that made them and aren't automatically shared across deployments. Promote a useful override into the code (`SERVICE_INFO` or `_PATTERNS`) if it should ship by default.

Nothing is merged ahead of time. The two halves stay separate on disk and come together on each read, which is why an override takes effect without a restart.


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# Where the override files live

The data directory resolves from `SPLAM_DATA_DIR`, else `XDG_DATA_HOME`, else `~/.local/share/splam` (see `paths.py`). Everything the app writes at runtime lands there:

    <data dir>/
    ├── credentials.json
    ├── audit_log.jsonl
    ├── service_info_overrides.json
    └── highlight_overrides.json

The two overrides files only exist once **Configure** has been used at least once. They aren't created at install time, so a deployment that never opened the dialog has a data directory with two files in it and behaves entirely off the shipped defaults.