Problem

Munki manifests are essentially XML, so you can write comments in the manifests to explain why you might have put something in (say, serial numbers in conditions).

If you, however, edit and save a manifest using MunkiAdmin, MunkiAdmin doesn’t know about those comments, because they aren’t actual XML keys and values, so the comments will disappear.

Added comments:

Comments gone after saving the manifest using MunkiAdmin:

Workaround

There is a workaround, though, which is to put the comments is as fake keys.

Fake keys:

Fake keys still there after editing and saving using MunkiAdmin:

Other Considerations

Keep in mind that MunkiAdmin generally alphabetizes the keys, so you’ll want to keep that in mind when naming your fake keys.

I’d also highly recommend making the fake name as fake as possible, so it doesn’t accidentally end up being a real key that a future version of Munki actually uses.

Keys out of alphabetical order:

Keys back in alphabetical order after being edited and saved using MunkiAdmin:

When Munki runs, it just ignores the fake keys:

**Checking for removals**
** Processing manifest site_default for managed_uninstalls
**Checking for managed updates**
** Processing manifest site_default for managed_updates
** Processing manifest site_default for optional_installs
** Processing manifest site_default for featured_items
** Processing manifest site_default for default_installs

Shoutout to Hannes Juutilainen for the tip (and for MunkiAdmin)!