Most Pythonic way to provide global configuration variables in config.py? [closed]

In my endless quest in over-complicating simple stuff, I am researching the most 'Pythonic' way to provide global configuration variables inside the typical 'config.py' found in Python egg packages.

The traditional way (aah, good ol' #define!) is as follows:

MYSQL_PORT = 3306
MYSQL_DATABASE = 'mydb'
MYSQL_DATABASE_TABLES = ['tb_users', 'tb_groups']

Therefore global variables are imported in one of the following ways:

from config import *
dbname = MYSQL_DATABASE
for table in MYSQL_DATABASE_TABLES:
    print table

or:

import config
dbname = config.MYSQL_DATABASE
assert(isinstance(config.MYSQL_PORT, int))

It makes sense, but sometimes can be a little messy, especially when you're trying to remember the names of certain variables. Besides, providing a 'configuration' object, with variables as attributes, might be more flexible. So, taking a lead from bpython config.py file, I came up with:

class Struct(object):

    def __init__(self, *args):
        self.__header__ = str(args[0]) if args else None

    def __repr__(self):
        if self.__header__ is None:
             return super(Struct, self).__repr__()
        return self.__header__

    def next(self):
        """ Fake iteration functionality.
        """
        raise StopIteration

    def __iter__(self):
        """ Fake iteration functionality.
        We skip magic attribues and Structs, and return the rest.
        """
        ks = self.__dict__.keys()
        for k in ks:
            if not k.startswith('__') and not isinstance(k, Struct):
                yield getattr(self, k)

    def __len__(self):
        """ Don't count magic attributes or Structs.
        """
        ks = self.__dict__.keys()
        return len([k for k in ks if not k.startswith('__')\
                    and not isinstance(k, Struct)])

and a 'config.py' that imports the class and reads as follows:

from _config import Struct as Section

mysql = Section("MySQL specific configuration")
mysql.user = 'root'
mysql.pass = 'secret'
mysql.host = 'localhost'
mysql.port = 3306
mysql.database = 'mydb'

mysql.tables = Section("Tables for 'mydb'")
mysql.tables.users = 'tb_users'
mysql.tables.groups =  'tb_groups'

and is used in this way:

from sqlalchemy import MetaData, Table
import config as CONFIG

assert(isinstance(CONFIG.mysql.port, int))

mdata = MetaData(
    "mysql://%s:%s@%s:%d/%s" % (
         CONFIG.mysql.user,
         CONFIG.mysql.pass,
         CONFIG.mysql.host,
         CONFIG.mysql.port,
         CONFIG.mysql.database,
     )
)

tables = []
for name in CONFIG.mysql.tables:
    tables.append(Table(name, mdata, autoload=True))

Which seems a more readable, expressive and flexible way of storing and fetching global variables inside a package.

Lamest idea ever? What is the best practice for coping with these situations? What is your way of storing and fetching global names and variables inside your package?

Solution 1:

How about just using the built-in types like this:

config = {
    "mysql": {
        "user": "root",
        "pass": "secret",
        "tables": {
            "users": "tb_users"
        }
        # etc
    }
}

You'd access the values as follows:

config["mysql"]["tables"]["users"]

If you are willing to sacrifice the potential to compute expressions inside your config tree, you could use YAML and end up with a more readable config file like this:

mysql:
  - user: root
  - pass: secret
  - tables:
    - users: tb_users

and use a library like PyYAML to conventiently parse and access the config file

Solution 2:

I like this solution for small applications:

class App:
  __conf = {
    "username": "",
    "password": "",
    "MYSQL_PORT": 3306,
    "MYSQL_DATABASE": 'mydb',
    "MYSQL_DATABASE_TABLES": ['tb_users', 'tb_groups']
  }
  __setters = ["username", "password"]

  @staticmethod
  def config(name):
    return App.__conf[name]

  @staticmethod
  def set(name, value):
    if name in App.__setters:
      App.__conf[name] = value
    else:
      raise NameError("Name not accepted in set() method")

And then usage is:

if __name__ == "__main__":
   # from config import App
   App.config("MYSQL_PORT")     # return 3306
   App.set("username", "hi")    # set new username value
   App.config("username")       # return "hi"
   App.set("MYSQL_PORT", "abc") # this raises NameError

.. you should like it because:

• uses class variables (no object to pass around/ no singleton required),
• uses encapsulated built-in types and looks like (is) a method call on App,
• has control over individual config immutability, mutable globals are the worst kind of globals.
• promotes conventional and well named access / readability in your source code
• is a simple class but enforces structured access, an alternative is to use @property, but that requires more variable handling code per item and is object-based.
• requires minimal changes to add new config items and set its mutability.

--Edit--: For large applications, storing values in a YAML (i.e. properties) file and reading that in as immutable data is a better approach (i.e. blubb/ohaal's answer). For small applications, this solution above is simpler.