[atoav]

I wrote a "common-config" module for an internal python project, that works like this:

1. You hardcode settings in python using a multiline TOML string

2. Users may have multiple configs at the usual config folders

3. The configs override the hardcoded defaults wherever fields are present

4. Configs override each other in order of directories (when we are talking about xdg-directories) and within them in alphabetical order wherever fields are present

This allows you to have good defaults, override some fields at will and add something like 99-debug.toml that you can just rename to 99-debug.toml.invalid if you don't need it anymore. The module also provides an install/edit cli and functions for printing the final resulting config and which configs it read on the way to that final config. At some point I have to publish it.

If you need anything more than TOML because your use case is so crazy, then consider either writing a domain specific language or use a scripting language like lua, python, js, ...