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Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration

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Date Sun, 2 Aug 2015 16:11:14 -0500
From Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com>
To python-list@python.org
Subject Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration
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On 2015-08-02 21:54, Ben Finney wrote:
> So, both XML and JSON should be considered write-only, and produced
> only for consumption by a computer; they are a poor choice for
> presenting to a human.
> 
> The “INI” format as handled by the Python ‘configparser’ module is
> what I would recommend for a simple flat configuration file. It is
> more intuitive to edit, and has a conventional commenting format.

I second Ben's thoughts against XML & JSON -- they *can* be edited by
hand, but put the onus on the user to make perfect XML/JSON.  Config
files (".ini") are more forgiving.

However, the .ini format (or at least the stdlib implementation in
ConfigParser.py) is not without its faults, mostly when you read a
file, then write it back out:

 - comments and blank lines get lost in the process:

    [section]

    # set to local configuration
    location=path/to/foo

  will get written out as

    [section]
    location=path/to/foo
 

 - the order of options is not preserved:

    [section]
    thing=1
    other=2

   may get written back out as

    [section]
    other=2
    thing=1

   though this has improved once ConfigParser started attempting to
   use an OrderedDict by default for internal storage.

 - a single key can only appear once in a section:

    [section]
    option=one
    option=two

  gets written back out as 

    [section]
    option=two

  - implicit encoding (is it UTF-8, Latin-1, etc?)

When you understand that the underlying internal storage is a dict
(ordered or unordered, depending on availability), a lot of the above
makes sense.  But it still makes me wish for the power of git's
config-file format that seems to preserve original config files much
better.

An additional option is using a sqlite database.  The sqlite
library is part of the stdlib, and advantages include being a single
file, expandability, consistent/reliable character encoding,
cross-platform portability, and atomicity (utilities that read/write
are blocked from getting/creating incomplete data seen by the other
file).

-tkc

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Thread

Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Cecil Westerhof <Cecil@decebal.nl> - 2015-08-02 12:11 +0200
  Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-08-02 20:49 +1000
  Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2015-08-02 21:54 +1000
    Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Cecil Westerhof <Cecil@decebal.nl> - 2015-08-02 18:51 +0200
      Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Lele Gaifax <lele@metapensiero.it> - 2015-08-02 22:02 +0200
      Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Cameron Simpson <cs@zip.com.au> - 2015-08-03 08:49 +1000
      Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2015-08-03 11:16 +1000
  Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2015-08-02 16:12 +0100
  Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2015-08-02 16:11 -0500
    Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Dan Sommers <dan@tombstonezero.net> - 2015-08-03 04:02 +0000
      Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2015-08-03 23:38 +1000
        Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-08-03 23:46 +1000
        Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2015-08-03 15:37 +0100
  Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration marco.nawijn@colosso.nl - 2015-08-04 07:53 -0700
    Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Irmen de Jong <irmen.NOSPAM@xs4all.nl> - 2015-08-04 19:06 +0200
      Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration marco.nawijn@colosso.nl - 2015-08-04 11:37 -0700
    Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2015-08-05 05:59 +1000
      Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2015-08-05 18:32 +1000
        Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-08-05 20:01 +1000
    Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Michael Torrie <torriem@gmail.com> - 2015-08-04 19:32 -0600
      Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2015-08-05 14:00 +0000
    Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration random832@fastmail.us - 2015-08-04 22:44 -0400
    Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Michael Torrie <torriem@gmail.com> - 2015-08-04 22:48 -0600
      Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2015-08-04 21:55 -0700
        Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Lele Gaifax <lele@metapensiero.it> - 2015-08-05 08:54 +0200
  Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2015-08-05 08:18 -0500
    Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2015-08-05 06:37 -0700
      Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2015-08-05 15:55 -0500
        Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-08-06 00:47 +0300
          Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2015-08-05 18:43 -0500
          Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-08-06 10:07 +1000
            Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2015-08-06 17:33 +1000
              Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-08-06 17:51 +1000
        Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2015-08-05 18:01 -0700
          Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2015-08-05 18:06 -0700
  Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2015-08-05 06:46 -0700
    Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2015-08-06 00:08 +1000
      Re: Most Pythonic way to store (small) configuration Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2015-08-05 07:25 -0700

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