libconf 0.9.1

A pure-Python libconfig reader with permissive license

libconf is a pure-Python reader for configuration files in libconfig format, which is often used in C/C++ projects. It’s interface is similar to the json module: the two main methods are load() and loads().

Example usage:

import libconf
>>> with open('example.cfg') as f:
...     config = libconf.load(f)
>>> config
{'capabilities': {'can-do-arrays': [3, 'yes', True],
                  'can-do-lists': (True,
                                   14880,
                                   ('sublist',),
                                   {'subgroup': 'ok'})},
 'version': 7,
 'window': {'position': {'h': 600, 'w': 800, 'x': 375, 'y': 210},
            'title': 'libconfig example'}}

>>> config['window']['title']
'libconfig example'
>>> config.window.title
'libconfig example'

The data can be accessed either via indexing (['title']) or via attribute access .title.

Comparison to other Python libconfig libraries

Pylibconfig2 is another pure-Python libconfig reader. It’s API is based on the C++ interface, instead of the Python json module. It’s licensed under GPLv3, which makes it unsuitable for use in a large number of projects.

Python-libconfig is a library that provides Python bindings for the libconfig++ C++ library. While permissively licensed (BSD), it requires a compilation step upon installation, which can be a drawback.

I wrote libconf (this library) because both of the existing libraries didn’t fit my requirements. I had a work-related project which is not open source (ruling out pylibconfig2) and I didn’t want the deployment headache of python-libconfig. Further, I enjoy writing parsers and this seemed like a nice opportunity :-)