Files
libconfig/readme.md
Emily Boudreaux d4bbd9cb3a feat(loading): robust error reporting and mutation
cfg now reports which fields are missing when loading. Further, the mutate method has been added for easier mutation of the underlying configuration struct
2026-04-07 09:28:27 -04:00

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![img](assets/logo/logo.png)
# libconfig
libconfig is the unified configuration module for SERiF and related projects
This has been broken out of the main serif project to allow for more modularity
## Building
In order to build libconfig you need `meson>=1.5.0`. This can be installed with `pip`
```bash
pip install "meson>=1.5.0"
```
Then from the root libconfig directory it is as simple as
```bash
meson setup build --buildtype=release
meson compile -C build
meson test -C build
```
this will auto generate a pkg-config file for you so that linking other libraries to libconfig is easy.
## Usage
libconfig makes use of [reflect-cpp](https://github.com/getml/reflect-cpp) to provide compile time reflection
and serialization/deserialization of configuration structs. This allows for config options to be defined in code
and strongly typed.
### Basic Usage
```c++
#include "fourdst/config/config.h"
#include <string>
#include <print>
#include <optional>
struct MyPhysicsOptions {
int gravity = 10;
float friction = 0.5f;
std::optional<float> dampening = 0.1f;
bool enable_wind = false;
};
struct MyControlOptions {
double time_step = 0.01;
double max_time = 100.0;
};
struct MySimulationConfig {
std::string name = "my_simulation";
MyPhysicsOptions physics;
MyControlOptions control;
};
int main() {
fourdst::config::Config<MySimulationConfig> cfg;
// You can save the default config to a file
cfg.save("default_config.toml");
// You can save the json schema for the config
// This allows editors like VS Code to provide autocompletion
fourdst::config::Config<MySimulationConfig>::save_schema("config.schema.json");
// You can load a config from a file
try {
cfg.load("my_config.toml");
// You can also pass an optional bool as a second argument to turn on verbose error
// reporting. This will display a tree of missing or invalid fields. Note that due to limitations
// in C++'s ability to detect default iniailized values vs initializer list values
// missing fields which you set an initializer list for are still considered missing.
// **ONLY fields marked with std::optional are exempt from this rule.**
} catch (const fourdst::config::exceptions::ConfigError& e) {
std::println("Error loading config: {}", e.what());
}
// You can access the config values
std::println("My Simulation Name: {}, My Simulation Gravity: {}", cfg->name, cfg->physics.gravity);
// libconfig intentioanlly discourages direct modification of config values. However, if you need
// to modify values after loading them you can use the mutate function. This takes a lambda
// which recives a mutable reference to the underlying config struct.
cfg.mutate([](MySimulationConfig& config) {
config->physics.enable_wind = true;
});
// Making these mutations will put the config into a "MODIFIED" state and will cache the unmodified values.
// You can reset the state and revert to the unmodified values with the reset function.
cfg.reset();
// The current state of the config can be checked with the get_state() function or the describe_state() function.
// get_state returns an enum value while describe_state returns a human readable string.
std::println("Config State: {}", cfg.describe_state());
fourdst::config::ConfigState state = cfg.get_state();
// Possible states are DEFAULT, LOADED_FROM_FILE, and MODIFIED
}
```
### CLI Integration
libconfig integrates with [CLI11](https://github.com/CLIUtils/CLI11) to automatically expose configuration fields as command-line arguments.
```c++
#include "CLI/CLI.hpp"
#include "fourdst/config/config.h"
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
fourdst::config::Config<MySimulationConfig> cfg;
CLI::App app("My Application");
// Automatically registers:
// --name
// --physics.gravity
// --physics.friction
// --physics.enable_wind
// ... and so on
fourdst::config::register_as_cli(cfg, app);
CLI11_PARSE(app, argc, argv);
// cfg is now populated with values from CLI arguments
return 0;
}
```
## Example output TOML
```toml
[main]
name = "my_simulation"
[main.physics]
gravity = 10
friction = 0.5
enable_wind = false
[main.control]
time_step = 0.01
max_time = 100.0
```