How do I continue developing an app in Splunk Web after moving the app's files from its local directory to its default directory?

[Graham_Hanningt]

From the Splunk docs topic "Splunk Enterprise > Developing Views and Apps for Splunk Web > About files and directories for apps and add-ons", heading "Files and directories for apps and add-ons":

To allow users to make their own customizations without being clobbered by later updates of your app,
you move all the files in $APP_HOME/local/ to $APP_HOME/default/.

(Note to Splunk writer, if you're reading this: at the end of the paragraph containing the sentence quoted above, you might want to change "followings file" [sic] to "following files".)

Okay, I did that... but now when I edit the app in Splunk Web - for example, I edit panels in the app's dashboards - Splunk Web saves my changes to the app's local directory. While that makes perfect sense to me, it also prompts this question.

I think the answer is: you can't. You need to keep a "dev" version of the app where the files are in the app's local directory. Each time you want to distribute a new version of the app, you need to (as per the quoted Splunk docs, above) copy the app's files from the local directory to the default directory.

That would be a minor pain, because I'd like to be able to distribute my app locally (inside my organization's intranet) using the git repo of the development version. But it seems it's not going to be that simple, unless I live with distributing all of the app's files in its local directory (but then, see "clobbered", above).

Or there is some way to tell Splunk Web to update the files in the app's default directory?

[Jeremiah · Accepted solution]

Nope, you're right. You copy the files to default, then distribute the app. If you want to do further development via the UI, then you have to again copy from local to default and distribute again.

[marcoscala]

Further problem is:
But if I want to distribute to some Customer an updated version of my App which includes some upgrades and fixing previously done in the "local" directory, I would like to delete the current "local" directory after upgrading the app.

How could it be possible with SplunK Web?

[Graham_Hanningt]

Re:

"all these worlds are yours, except /default - attempt no editing there"
-- duckfez, 2010

(Splunk docs)

I like the Odyssey Two reference.

I recently had to explain to a colleague the "Log, I am your father" caption on a freebie Splunk T-shirt. Sigh. Or rather: sinister amplified breathing via a scuba regulator.

[ChrisG]

Thanks for mentioning that typo in the docs, it is fixed now.