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Copilot AI commented Jul 27, 2025

This PR implements a brand new TOML configuration system for pycloudlib that addresses long-standing configuration inconsistencies and limitations identified in issues canonical#457 and canonical#466.

Problem Statement

The existing configuration system had several critical issues:

  1. Issue [enhancement] Update handling of "required_values" in cloud class canonical/pycloudlib#466: If all required values were provided to a cloud constructor, the TOML file was completely ignored, preventing users from using TOML as a base configuration with runtime overrides.

  2. Issue feature request: completely align toml and class instantiation configuration options canonical/pycloudlib#457: Inconsistent configuration options between TOML and constructor parameters. SSH keys could not be passed at runtime and had to be configured in TOML or set after instantiation using the use_key method.

  3. No validation: TOML configuration errors were only discovered at runtime when attempting to use cloud services.

Solution

🔧 Fixed Issue canonical#466 - TOML Always Parsed

  • Modified _check_and_get_config to always parse TOML configuration when available
  • TOML now serves as base configuration with constructor parameters providing overrides
  • Previous behavior: if all required values provided: ignore TOML completely
  • New behavior: always parse TOML + merge with constructor parameters

🔧 Fixed Issue canonical#457 - Complete Configuration Alignment

  • Any setting available in TOML can now be passed as constructor parameter
  • SSH keys can be configured at runtime via constructor parameters
  • Enhanced BaseCloud to accept and merge all constructor parameters with TOML config
  • Updated cloud implementations (EC2, Azure) to properly pass constructor parameters through

✨ Added TOML Validation

  • Created comprehensive JSON schemas for all cloud types (EC2, Azure, GCE, IBM, OCI, OpenStack, QEMU, VMware, LXD)
  • Validation catches configuration errors immediately using JSONSchema
  • Balanced approach: catches invalid additional properties without being overly restrictive about required fields
  • Cloud-specific validation adapts per cloud implementation

🛠️ Enhanced Configuration System

  • New validate_cloud_config() function for immediate error detection
  • New merge_configs() function for proper parameter merging with None value handling
  • Enhanced parse_config() with optional validation support
  • Maintains full backward compatibility with existing code

Key Changes

# Before: TOML ignored if required values provided
ec2 = EC2('test', region='us-east-1', access_key_id='KEY', secret_access_key='SECRET')
# Result: Only constructor values used, TOML completely ignored

# After: TOML serves as base configuration with constructor overrides
ec2 = EC2('test', config_file='config.toml', region='us-east-1')  
# Result: All TOML settings loaded + region overridden by constructor

# Before: SSH keys couldn't be passed at runtime
# Had to use: ec2.use_key() after instantiation

# After: SSH keys work as constructor parameters
ec2 = EC2('test', public_key_path='/path/to/key.pub', private_key_path='/path/to/key')

# New: TOML validation catches errors immediately
# Invalid TOML with extra fields will raise ValueError with clear error message

Demonstration

A comprehensive demonstration script (demo_new_config_system.py) shows all features working:

  • TOML parsing with constructor overrides
  • SSH key configuration at runtime
  • TOML validation catching invalid configurations
  • Proper configuration merging with None value handling

Testing

  • 29 new comprehensive tests covering all new functionality
  • All existing tests pass (full backward compatibility maintained)
  • Integration tests with real cloud implementations (Azure, GCE)
  • Edge case testing (empty configs, None values, invalid schemas)

Files Changed

  • Core: config.py, cloud.py - Enhanced configuration system
  • New: config_schemas.py - JSON schemas for validation
  • Cloud implementations: ec2/cloud.py, azure/cloud.py - Parameter passing
  • Template: pycloudlib.toml.template - Updated documentation
  • Demo: demo_new_config_system.py - Comprehensive examples
  • Tests: Multiple new test files with extensive coverage

Backward Compatibility

Fully maintained - All existing code continues to work unchanged. The new features are additive and the configuration behavior is enhanced rather than replaced.

Closes canonical#457
Closes canonical#466


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Copilot AI and others added 2 commits July 27, 2025 08:47
Co-authored-by: a-dubs <37227576+a-dubs@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: a-dubs <37227576+a-dubs@users.noreply.github.com>
Copilot AI changed the title [WIP] implement a brand new way of configuring pycloudlib. allow for configuring any setting available at runtime to a class via the toml config. look at @canonical/pycloudlib/issues/457 for more context on this issue. and another related issue: @canonical/py... Implement comprehensive TOML configuration system with validation and constructor parameter alignment Jul 27, 2025
Copilot AI requested a review from a-dubs July 27, 2025 08:55
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