[Python-Dev] ConfigParser patches

[David Goodger]

I have patches up on SF for two ConfigParser bugs, which I'd like to
check in ASAP.  Any objections?

http://www.python.org/sf/1017864: Case sensitivity bug in ConfigParser
======================================================================

This is a simple bug relating to default values passed in as
dictionaries, illustrated here:

 >>> import ConfigParser
 >>> cp = ConfigParser.ConfigParser({"foo": "Bar"})
 >>> cp.get("DEFAULT", "Foo")
'Bar'
 >>> cp = ConfigParser.ConfigParser({"FOO": "Bar"}) # <-- note CAPS
 >>> cp.get("DEFAULT", "FOO")  # same for "foo", "Foo", etc.
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
ConfigParser.NoOptionError: No option 'foo' in section: 'DEFAULT'

The patch applies ConfigParser.optionxform to keys of defaults when
supplied, to be consistent with the handling of keys of config file
entries and runtime-set options.  A test patch is also included.

http://www.python.org/sf/997050: ConfigParser behavior change
=============================================================

This may be more controversial.  In Python 2.3 and earlier,
ConfigParser implicitly allowed non-string values to be set.
http://python.org/sf/810843 asked for clarification, and in rev 1.65
an explicit type check was added that raises TypeError.  The problem
is that this breaks Docutils code, and I suspect it will break other
code as well, which we won't hear about until after Python 2.4 final
is released.  Setting non-string values worked just fine for
application-internal use, as long as interpolation is turned off
(RawConfigParser is used or ConfigParser with "raw" parameter set) and
config files aren't written.

A new SafeConfigParser class was added in Python 2.3:

     New applications should prefer this version if they don't need to
     be compatible with older versions of Python.

My solution is to add the new string-only restriction to the
SafeConfigParser class, leave existing ConfigParser & RawConfigParser
behavior alone, and document the conditions under which non-string
values work.  Code, doc, and test patches included.

What say you?

-- 
David Goodger <http://python.net/~goodger>
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