Configuration files come in all shapes, sizes, and syntaxes. For some
projects, it makes sense to use Python syntax for the configuration
files and import or eval the text in the file to get the values.
While this is somewhat dangerous when people not familiar with Python
programming are filling in values in the configuration files, it does
allow for sophisticated imports, values that depend on other values,
defining complex data types like procedures, etc.
When the configured program is updated, sometimes the configuration file content needs to be updated for a new configuration parameter or a revised structure to a existing parameter. Users of the configured program need to merge their custom configuration with the updated config file template. This can be very complex, especially for people not familiar with Python programming or source code merge tools.
Enter pyconfmerge. This tool is designed to merge Python files to preserve the structure of the configuration template while merging in the values of an existing configuration file. It can be run automatically or interactively to produce new configuration files. It looks for assignments or definitions in the templates and config files, and preserves the customized values where possible.
To use pyconfmerge, you'll need the RedBaron Python parser,
https://pypi.python.org/pypi/redbaron/
and the pygments python syntax highlighter,
http://pygments.org
If you use pip, you can install these modules by running
pip install redbaron pygments.