lib/mixlib/config.rb in mixlib-config-3.0.9 vs lib/mixlib/config.rb in mixlib-config-3.0.27

@@ -563,13 +563,16 @@
     #
     # This is preferable to converting it to the string representation with
     # the #to_dotted_hash method above.
     #
     # === Parameters
-    # hash<Hash>:: The hash to apply to the config oject
+    # hash<Hash>:: The hash to apply to the config object
     def apply_nested_hash(hash)
       hash.each do |k, v|
-        if v.is_a? Hash
+        if v.is_a?(Hash) && internal_get(k.to_sym).is_a?(Hash)
+          # If it is a plain config key (not a context) and the value is a Hash, plain merge the Hashes.
+          internal_set(k.to_sym, internal_get(k.to_sym).merge(v))
+        elsif v.is_a? Hash
           # If loading from hash, and we reference a context that doesn't exist
           # and warning/strict is off, we need to create the config context that we expected to be here.
           context = internal_get(k.to_sym) || config_context(k.to_sym)
           context.apply_nested_hash(v)
         else