new: reference config file is not anymore required. (fixes #54)

README.rst

@@ -153,13 +153,17 @@ the `changelog of the PyPI page`_.
 Usage
 =====
 
-The `reference configuration file`_ is delivered within ``gitchangelog`` package
-and provides defaults for settings.
-
-You *may* place a ``gitchangelog.rc`` file somewhere to override the defaults.
-The recommended location is the root of the current git repository with
-the name ``.gitchangelog.rc``.  However you could put it elsewhere,
-and here are the locations checked (first match will prevail):
+The `reference configuration file`_ is delivered within
+``gitchangelog`` package and is used to provides defaults to
+settings. If you didn't install the package and used the standalone
+file, then chances are that ``gitchangelog`` can't access these
+defaults values. This is not a problem as long as you provided all the
+required values in your config file.
+
+The recommended location for ``gitchangelog`` config file is the root
+of the current git repository with the name ``.gitchangelog.rc``.
+However you could put it elsewhere, and here are the locations checked
+(first match will prevail):
 
 - in the path given thanks to the environment variable
   ``GITCHANGELOG_CONFIG_FILENAME``

src/gitchangelog/gitchangelog.py

@@ -1475,6 +1475,18 @@ def get_log_encoding(repository, config):
     return log_encoding or DEFAULT_GIT_LOG_ENCODING
 
 
+##
+## Config Manager
+##
+
+class Config(dict):
+
+    def __getitem__(self, label):
+        if label not in self.keys():
+            die("Missing value in config file for key '%s'." % label)
+        return super(Config, self).__getitem__(label)
+
+
 ##
 ## Main
 ##
@@ -1545,9 +1557,6 @@ def main():
             else:
                 break
 
-    if not os.path.exists(reference_config):
-        die("Config reference file %r not found." % reference_config)
-
     ## config file may lookup for templates relative to the toplevel
     ## of git repository
     os.chdir(repository.toplevel)
@@ -1557,6 +1566,8 @@ def main():
         default_filename=reference_config,
         fail_if_not_present=False)
 
+    config = Config(config)
+
     log_encoding = get_log_encoding(repository, config)
     revlist = get_revision(repository, config, opts)
     manage_obsolete_options(config)

test/test_issue54.py

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# -*- encoding: utf-8 -*-
+"""Reference file is not required to be found
+
+Tests issue #54
+(https://github.com/vaab/gitchangelog/issues/54)
+
+"""
+
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+from common import BaseGitReposTest, cmd, file_put_contents
+
+
+class TestConfigComplains(BaseGitReposTest):
+
+    def test_missing_option(self):
+        super(TestConfigComplains, self).setUp()
+
+        file_put_contents(
+            ".gitchangelog.rc",
+            "del section_regexps"
+        )
+
+        out, err, errlvl = cmd('$tprog --debug')
+        self.assertContains(
+            err.lower(), "missing value",
+            msg="There should be an error message containing 'missing value'. "
+            "Current stderr:\n%s" % err)
+        self.assertContains(
+            err.lower(), "config file",
+            msg="There should be an error message containing 'config file'. "
+            "Current stderr:\n%s" % err)
+        self.assertContains(
+            err.lower(), "section_regexps",
+            msg="There should be an error message containing 'section_regexps'. "
+            "Current stderr:\n%s" % err)
+        self.assertEqual(
+            errlvl, 1,
+            msg="Should faild.")
+        self.assertEqual(
+            out, "",
+            msg="No output is expected.")