Goals
Requires only Python 3.12 or newer.
Reduces boilerplate in user code, making integration clean and concise.
Overview
This Python parser is one of the main implementations of the Erbsland Configuration Language (ELCL). Its primary goals are security, robustness, and full feature coverage—delivered in a clean and understandable codebase.
It is both:
Production-ready: safe to use in real-world systems.
Educational: a reference for developers implementing their own ELCL parsers.
Full Feature Coverage
The parser supports the entire ELCL specification, including:
Core features: names, values, and sections
Standard features: multiline values, byte counts, and value lists
Advanced features: regular expressions, code blocks, and time deltas
Dependency-Free
The parser is intentionally designed with zero external dependencies:
No third-party libraries are required.
You can install and run it anywhere Python 3.12+ is available.
Modern, Readable Python
The codebase is written in modern Python (3.12+), with a focus on readability:
Fully annotated with type hints for clarity and IDE support
Explicit rather than “clever”—favoring clarity over abstraction
Structured so you can easily read, understand, and extend it without guesswork
Robustness Over Performance
Parsing configuration files is rarely the main performance bottleneck in a system. Instead, robust behavior is critical for reliability:
Correctness, consistency, and transparency always come before raw speed.
Error messages are clear and actionable, helping users quickly identify and fix mistakes.
Performance optimizations are applied where useful, but never at the cost of readability or correctness.