How to replace keys with new AVD4.0 append_rp behaviour

[kmueller68]

Hello.

The merge behaviour for custom_structured_configuration hase been changed starting with AVD 4.0 to from replace to append_rp.

# From AVD 4.0 most data models will use lists instead of dicts.
# Input data is auto-converted from dicts to lists so it is more likely that "custom_structured_configuration_list_merge: replace" will overwrite list data unintentionally.
# So "replace" should be avoided for most use cases going forward.
# "append_rp" means "append unique items", so similar to append, but avoid duplicates in the resulting list.
custom_structured_configuration_list_merge: 'append_rp'

Could you please give me a hint how to handle the follwing requirement with append_rp:

we set the follwing in all.yml:

management_ssh:
  idle_timeout: 30
  enable: false
  vrfs:
    MGMT:
      enable: true

but in a more specific group_vars file we need to replace it with:

management_ssh:
  idle_timeout: 30
  enable: false
  vrfs:
    VLAN1810:
      enable: true

With the AVD 4.0 behaviour I get:

management_ssh:
 idle_timeout: 30
 enable: false
 vrfs:
   MGMT:
     enable: true
   VLAN1810:
     enable: true

Thank you very much for your help.

[ClausHolbechArista]

This is a good question, and I have been facing the same troubles :)
We are planning to implement a new form of providing custom structured_config, but it is not ready yet. I will look into a short term fix.