= Upgrading the Configuration =

Currently merging new config options to existing deployments must be done by hand. This should be possible automatically.

'''Requirements'''
* Merge current settings with new default config into new config
* Preserve comments

=== !ConfigParser ===
Python's built-in !ConfigParser does not support preserving comments.

=== !ConfigObj ===
[http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/configobj.html ConfigObj documentation]
[http://pypi.python.org/pypi/configobj/ ConfigObj on PyPI]

* INI style config files, [http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/configobj.html#config-files example]
* Used by bazaar, chandler, matplotlib, ipython, elisa

=== Config ===
[http://www.red-dove.com/config-doc/ Config documentation]

* Not sure if merge function supports preserving comments

=== JSON or XML ===

* Advantage is that these are well-known formats, and both are readable from Python.
* For comments, allow a "comment" field.

=== Further alternatives ===
Further alternatives are covered by the [http://wiki.python.org/moin/ConfigParserShootout ConfigParser Shootout] (circa 2004-2006)