refactor config handler and morev0.6.0

Refactored the configuration handling to use configparser; also the argument parser; generally added more 'logging';  updated template resources; and more minor things

13 files changed, 204 insertions, 250 deletions

diff --git a/src/pyssg/arg_parser.py b/src/pyssg/arg_parser.py
index 4ee7d57..90fb8c1 100644
--- a/src/pyssg/arg_parser.py
+++ b/src/pyssg/arg_parser.py
@@ -3,21 +3,40 @@ from argparse import ArgumentParser, Namespace
 
 def get_parsed_arguments() -> Namespace:
     parser = ArgumentParser(prog='pyssg',
-                            description='''Static Site Generator that reads
-                            Markdown files and creates HTML files.\nIf
-                            [-c]onfig file is provided (or exists in default
-                            location) all other options are ignored.\nFor
-                            datetime formats see:
+                            description='''Static Site Generator that parses
+                            Markdown files into HTML files. For datetime
+                            formats see:
                             https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#strftime-and-strptime-format-codes''')
     parser.add_argument('-v', '--version',
                         action='store_true',
                         help='''print program version''')
     parser.add_argument('-c', '--config',
-                        default='$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pyssg/pyssgrc',
+                        # don't give a default here, as it would seem like
+                        #   --config was passed
+                        # default='$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pyssg/config.ini',
                         type=str,
-                        help='''config file (path) to read from; defaults to
-                        'pyssgrc' first, then
-                        '$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pyssg/pyssgrc' ''')
+                        help='''config file (path) to read from; if not passed,
+                        '$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pyssg/config.ini' is used''')
+    parser.add_argument('--copy-default-config',
+                        action='store_true',
+                        help='''copies the default config to path specified in
+                        --config flag''')
+    parser.add_argument('-i', '--init',
+                        action='store_true',
+                        help='''initializes the directory structures and copies
+                        over default templates''')
+    parser.add_argument('-b', '--build',
+                        action='store_true',
+                        help='''generates all HTML files by parsing MD files
+                        present in source directory and copies over manually
+                        written HTML files''')
+    parser.add_argument('-f', '--force',
+                        action='store_true',
+                        help='''force building all pages and not only the
+                        updated ones''')
+    # really not needed, too much bloat and case scenarios to check for,
+    #   instead, just read from config file or default config file
+    """
     parser.add_argument('-s', '--src',
                         default='src',
                         type=str,
@@ -68,17 +87,6 @@ def get_parsed_arguments() -> Namespace:
                         help='''date format used for the separator between page
                         entries in a list; defaults to '%%B %%Y' ('March 2021',
                         for example)''')
-    parser.add_argument('-i', '--init',
-                        action='store_true',
-                        help='''initializes the dir structure, templates,
-                        as well as the 'src' and 'dst' directories''')
-    parser.add_argument('-b', '--build',
-                        action='store_true',
-                        help='''generates all html files and passes over
-                        existing (handmade) ones''')
-    parser.add_argument('-f', '--force',
-                        action='store_true',
-                        help='''force building all pages and not only the
-                        updated ones''')
+    """
 
     return parser.parse_args()
diff --git a/src/pyssg/builder.py b/src/pyssg/builder.py
index 84494da..130062e 100644
--- a/src/pyssg/builder.py
+++ b/src/pyssg/builder.py
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ from copy import deepcopy
 from operator import itemgetter
 from jinja2 import Environment, Template
 from markdown import Markdown
+from configparser import ConfigParser
 
-from .configuration import Configuration
 from .database import Database
 from .parser import MDParser
 from .page import Page
@@ -13,11 +13,11 @@ from .discovery import get_file_list, get_dir_structure
 
 
 class Builder:
-    def __init__(self, config: Configuration,
+    def __init__(self, config: ConfigParser,
                  env: Environment,
                  db: Database,
                  md: Markdown):
-        self.config: Configuration = config
+        self.config: ConfigParser = config
         self.env: Environment = env
         self.db: Database = db
         self.md: Markdown = md
@@ -33,15 +33,19 @@ class Builder:
 
 
     def build(self) -> None:
-        self.dirs = get_dir_structure(self.config.src, ['templates'])
-        self.md_files = get_file_list(self.config.src, ['.md'], ['templates'])
-        self.html_files = get_file_list(self.config.src, ['.html'], ['templates'])
+        self.dirs = get_dir_structure(self.config.get('path', 'src'),
+                                      ['templates'])
+        self.md_files = get_file_list(self.config.get('path', 'src'),
+                                      ['.md'],
+                                      ['templates'])
+        self.html_files = get_file_list(self.config.get('path', 'src'),
+                                        ['.html'],
+                                        ['templates'])
 
         self.__create_dir_structure()
         self.__copy_html_files()
 
-        parser: MDParser = MDParser(self.config.src,
-                                    self.md_files,
+        parser: MDParser = MDParser(self.md_files,
                                     self.config,
                                     self.db,
                                     self.md)
@@ -69,7 +73,7 @@ class Builder:
             # for the dir structure,
             # doesn't matter if the dir already exists
             try:
-                os.makedirs(os.path.join(self.config.dst, d))
+                os.makedirs(os.path.join(self.config.get('path', 'dst'), d))
             except FileExistsError:
                 pass
 
@@ -79,18 +83,18 @@ class Builder:
         dst_file: str = None
 
         for f in self.html_files:
-            src_file = os.path.join(self.config.src, f)
-            dst_file = os.path.join(self.config.dst, f)
+            src_file = os.path.join(self.config.get('path', 'src'), f)
+            dst_file = os.path.join(self.config.get('path', 'dst'), f)
 
             # only copy files if they have been modified (or are new)
-            if self.db.update(src_file, remove=f'{self.config.src}/'):
+            if self.db.update(src_file, remove=f'{self.config.get("path", "src")}/'):
                 shutil.copy2(src_file, dst_file)
 
 
     def __render_articles(self) -> None:
         article_vars: dict = deepcopy(self.common_vars)
         # check if only updated should be created
-        if self.config.force:
+        if self.config.getboolean('other', 'force'):
             for p in self.all_pages:
                 article_vars['page'] = p
                 self.__render_template("page.html",
@@ -132,5 +136,5 @@ class Builder:
         template: Template = self.env.get_template(template_name)
         content: str = template.render(**template_vars)
 
-        with open(os.path.join(self.config.dst, file_name), 'w') as f:
+        with open(os.path.join(self.config.get('path', 'dst'), file_name), 'w') as f:
             f.write(content)
diff --git a/src/pyssg/configuration.py b/src/pyssg/configuration.py
index 5a09a7a..dd6bfaa 100644
--- a/src/pyssg/configuration.py
+++ b/src/pyssg/configuration.py
@@ -1,133 +1,42 @@
-from typing import Union
+import sys
 from importlib.metadata import version
+from importlib.resources import path as rpath
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
+from configparser import ConfigParser
 
 
-class Configuration:
-    def __init__(self, path: str):
-        self.path: str = path
-        # config file specific
-        self.src: str = None
-        self.dst: str = None
-        self.plt: str = None
-        self.url: str = None
-        self.static_url: str = None
-        self.default_image_url: str = None
-        self.title: str = None
-        self.dformat: str = None
-        self.l_dformat: str = None
-        self.lsep_dformat: str = None
-        self.force: bool = None
+DEFAULT_CONFIG_PATH = '$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pyssg/config.ini'
+VERSION = version('pyssg')
 
-        # other
-        self.version: str = version('pyssg')
-        self.dformat_rss: str = '%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S GMT'
-        self.dformat_sitemap: str = '%Y-%m-%d'
-        self.run_date_rss = datetime.now(tz=timezone.utc).strftime(self.dformat_rss)
-        self.run_date_sitemap = \
-        datetime.now(tz=timezone.utc).strftime(self.dformat_sitemap)
 
+def __check_well_formed_config(config: ConfigParser) -> None:
+    default_config: ConfigParser = ConfigParser()
+    with rpath('pyssg.plt', 'default.ini') as p:
+        default_config.read(p)
 
-    def read(self):
-        try:
-            lines: list[str] = None
-            with open(self.path, 'r') as f:
-                lines = f.readlines()
+    for section in default_config.sections():
+        if not config.has_section(section):
+            print(f'config does not have section "{section}"')
+            sys.exit(1)
+        for option in default_config.options(section):
+            if not config.has_option(section, option):
+                print(f'config does not have option "{option}" in section "{section}"')
+                sys.exit(1)
 
-            opts: dict[str, Union[str, bool]] = dict()
-            for l in lines:
-                kv: list[str] = l.split('=', 1)
-                if len(kv) != 2:
-                    raise Exception('wrong config syntax')
 
-                k: str = kv[0].strip().lower()
-                v_temp: str = kv[1].strip()
-                # check if value should be a boolean true
-                v: Union[str, bool] = v_temp\
-                    if v_temp.lower() not in ['true', '1', 'yes']\
-                    else True
+def get_parsed_config(path: str) -> ConfigParser:
+    config: ConfigParser = ConfigParser()
+    config.read(path)
 
-                opts[k] = v
+    __check_well_formed_config(config)
 
-            try:
-                self.src = opts['src']
-            except KeyError: pass
+    # set other required options
+    config.set('fmt', 'rss_date', '%%a, %%d %%b %%Y %%H:%%M:%%S GMT')
+    config.set('fmt', 'sitemap_date', '%%Y-%%m-%%d')
+    config.set('info', 'version', VERSION)
+    config.set('info', 'rss_run_date', datetime.now(
+        tz=timezone.utc).strftime(config.get('fmt', 'rss_date')))
+    config.set('info', 'sitemap_run_date', datetime.now(
+        tz=timezone.utc).strftime(config.get('fmt', 'sitemap_date')))
 
-            try:
-                self.dst = opts['dst']
-            except KeyError: pass
-
-            try:
-                self.plt = opts['plt']
-            except KeyError: pass
-
-            try:
-                self.url = opts['url']
-            except KeyError: pass
-
-            try:
-                self.static_url = opts['static_url']
-            except KeyError: pass
-
-            try:
-                self.default_image_url = opts['default_image_url']
-            except KeyError: pass
-
-            try:
-                self.title = opts['title']
-            except KeyError: pass
-
-            try:
-                self.dformat = opts['date_format']
-            except KeyError: pass
-
-            try:
-                self.l_dformat = opts['list_date_format']
-            except KeyError: pass
-
-            try:
-                self.lsep_dformat = opts['list_sep_date_format']
-            except KeyError: pass
-
-            try:
-                # if the parser above didn't read a boolean true, then take it
-                # as a false anyways
-                self.force = opts['force'] if opts['force'] is True else False
-            except KeyError: pass
-
-        except OSError: pass
-
-
-    def fill_missing(self, opts: dict[str, Union[str, bool]]) -> None:
-        if self.src is None:
-            self.src = opts['src']
-
-        if self.dst is None:
-            self.dst = opts['dst']
-
-        if self.plt is None:
-            self.plt = opts['plt']
-
-        if self.url is None:
-            self.url = opts['url']
-
-        if self.static_url is None:
-            self.static_url = opts['static_url']
-
-        if self.default_image_url is None:
-            self.default_image_url = opts['default_image_url']
-
-        if self.title is None:
-            self.title = opts['title']
-
-        if self.dformat is None:
-            self.dformat = opts['date_format']
-
-        if self.l_dformat is None:
-            self.l_dformat = opts['list_date_format']
-
-        if self.lsep_dformat is None:
-            self.lsep_dformat = opts['list_sep_date_format']
-
-        if self.force is None:
-            self.force = opts['force']
+    return config
diff --git a/src/pyssg/page.py b/src/pyssg/page.py
index 6b83d39..784749c 100644
--- a/src/pyssg/page.py
+++ b/src/pyssg/page.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 
-from .configuration import Configuration
+from configparser import ConfigParser
 
 
 class Page:
@@ -10,14 +10,14 @@ class Page:
                  mtime: float,
                  html: str,
                  meta: dict,
-                 config: Configuration):
+                 config: ConfigParser):
         # initial data
         self.name: str = name
         self.ctimestamp: float = ctime
         self.mtimestamp: float = mtime
         self.content: str = html
         self.meta: dict = meta
-        self.config: Configuration = config
+        self.config: ConfigParser = config
 
         # data from self.meta
         self.title: str = ''
@@ -66,23 +66,23 @@ class Page:
         # dates
         self.cdatetime = datetime.fromtimestamp(self.ctimestamp,
                                                  tz=timezone.utc)
-        self.cdate = self.cdatetime.strftime(self.config.dformat)
-        self.cdate_list = self.cdatetime.strftime(self.config.l_dformat)
-        self.cdate_list_sep = self.cdatetime.strftime(self.config.lsep_dformat)
-        self.cdate_rss = self.cdatetime.strftime(self.config.dformat_rss)
+        self.cdate = self.cdatetime.strftime(self.config.get('fmt', 'date'))
+        self.cdate_list = self.cdatetime.strftime(self.config.get('fmt', 'list_date'))
+        self.cdate_list_sep = self.cdatetime.strftime(self.config.get('fmt', 'list_sep_date'))
+        self.cdate_rss = self.cdatetime.strftime(self.config.get('fmt', 'rss_date'))
         self.cdate_sitemap = \
-        self.cdatetime.strftime(self.config.dformat_sitemap)
+        self.cdatetime.strftime(self.config.get('fmt', 'sitemap_date'))
 
         # only if file/page has been modified
         if self.mtimestamp != 0.0:
             self.mdatetime = datetime.fromtimestamp(self.mtimestamp,
                                                      tz=timezone.utc)
-            self.mdate = self.mdatetime.strftime(self.config.dformat)
-            self.mdate_list = self.mdatetime.strftime(self.config.l_dformat)
-            self.mdate_list_sep = self.mdatetime.strftime(self.config.lsep_dformat)
-            self.mdate_rss = self.mdatetime.strftime(self.config.dformat_rss)
+            self.mdate = self.mdatetime.strftime(self.config.get('fmt', 'date'))
+            self.mdate_list = self.mdatetime.strftime(self.config.get('fmt', 'list_date'))
+            self.mdate_list_sep = self.mdatetime.strftime(self.config.get('fmt', 'list_sep_date'))
+            self.mdate_rss = self.mdatetime.strftime(self.config.get('fmt', 'rss_date'))
             self.mdate_sitemap = \
-            self.mdatetime.strftime(self.config.dformat_sitemap)
+            self.mdatetime.strftime(self.config.get('fmt', 'sitemap_date'))
 
         # not always contains tags
         try:
@@ -91,17 +91,17 @@ class Page:
 
             for t in tags_only:
                 self.tags.append((t,
-                                  f'{self.config.url}/tag/@{t}.html'))
+                                  f'{self.config.get("url", "main")}/tag/@{t}.html'))
         except KeyError: pass
 
-        self.url = f'{self.config.url}/{self.name.replace(".md", ".html")}'
+        self.url = f'{self.config.get("url", "main")}/{self.name.replace(".md", ".html")}'
 
         try:
             self.image_url = \
-            f'{self.config.static_url}/{self.meta["image_url"][0]}'
+            f'{self.config.get("url", "static")}/{self.meta["image_url"][0]}'
         except KeyError:
             self.image_url = \
-            f'{self.config.static_url}/{self.config.default_image_url}'
+            f'{self.config.get("url", "static")}/{self.config.get("url", "default_image")}'
 
         # if contains open graph elements
         try:
diff --git a/src/pyssg/parser.py b/src/pyssg/parser.py
index f2d23eb..2888fcb 100644
--- a/src/pyssg/parser.py
+++ b/src/pyssg/parser.py
@@ -1,24 +1,21 @@
 import os
 from operator import itemgetter
-from datetime import datetime
 from markdown import Markdown
+from configparser import ConfigParser
 
 from .database import Database
-from .configuration import Configuration
 from .page import Page
 
 
 # parser of md files, stores list of pages and tags
 class MDParser:
-    def __init__(self, src: str,
-                 files: list[str],
-                 config: Configuration,
+    def __init__(self, files: list[str],
+                 config: ConfigParser,
                  db: Database,
                  md: Markdown):
-        self.src: str = src
         self.files: list[str] = files
 
-        self.config: Configuration = config
+        self.config: ConfigParser = config
         self.db: Database = db
         self.md: Markdown = md
 
@@ -32,12 +29,13 @@ class MDParser:
         self.all_pages = []
         self.updated_pages = []
         self.all_tags = []
-        all_tag_names: list[str] = []
+        # not used, not sure why i had this
+        # all_tag_names: list[str] = []
 
         for f in self.files:
-            src_file: str = os.path.join(self.src, f)
+            src_file: str = os.path.join(self.config.get('path', 'src'), f)
             # get flag if update is successful
-            updated: bool = self.db.update(src_file, remove=f'{self.src}/')
+            updated: bool = self.db.update(src_file, remove=f'{self.config.get("path", "src")}/')
 
             content: str = self.md.reset().convert(open(src_file).read())
             page: Page = Page(f,
diff --git a/src/pyssg/plt/default.ini b/src/pyssg/plt/default.ini
index 2700d28..ab4eac1 100644
--- a/src/pyssg/plt/default.ini
+++ b/src/pyssg/plt/default.ini
@@ -1,14 +1,16 @@
-[dir_paths]
+[path]
 src=src
 dst=dst
 plt=plt
-[urls]
-url=https://example.com
-static_url=https://static.example.com
-default_image_url=/images/default.png
-[formats]
-date_format=%%a, %%b %%d, %%Y @ %%H:%%M %%Z
-list_date_format=%%b %%d
-list_sep_date_format=%%B %%Y
+[url]
+main=https://example.com
+static=https://static.example.com
+default_image=/images/default.png
+[fmt]
+date=%%a, %%b %%d, %%Y @ %%H:%%M %%Z
+list_date=%%b %%d
+list_sep_date=%%B %%Y
 [info]
-title=Example site
\ No newline at end of file
+title=Example site
+[other]
+force=False
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/pyssg/plt/index.html b/src/pyssg/plt/index.html
index e06efdb..09ca786 100644
--- a/src/pyssg/plt/index.html
+++ b/src/pyssg/plt/index.html
@@ -2,11 +2,11 @@
 <html lang="en">
   <head>
     <meta charset="utf-8">
-    <base href="{{config.static_url}}">
-    <title>Index -- {{config.title}}</title>
+    <base href="{{config.get('url', 'static')}}">
+    <title>Index -- {{config.get('info', 'title')}}</title>
   </head>
   <body>
-  <h1>Index -- {{config.title}}</h1>
+  <h1>Index -- {{config.get('info', 'title')}}</h1>
   <p>Some text here.</p>
 
   <p>Tags:
diff --git a/src/pyssg/plt/page.html b/src/pyssg/plt/page.html
index 2fc3943..15663fa 100644
--- a/src/pyssg/plt/page.html
+++ b/src/pyssg/plt/page.html
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 <html lang="{{page.lang}}">
   <head>
     <meta charset="utf-8">
-    <base href="{{config.static_url}}">
-    <title>{{page.title}} -- {{config.title}}</title>
+    <base href="{{config.get('url', 'static')}}">
+    <title>{{page.title}} -- {{config.get('info', 'title')}}</title>
   </head>
   <body>
     <h1>{{page.title}}</h1>
diff --git a/src/pyssg/plt/rss.xml b/src/pyssg/plt/rss.xml
index 42020d7..be6ddf0 100644
--- a/src/pyssg/plt/rss.xml
+++ b/src/pyssg/plt/rss.xml
@@ -3,24 +3,24 @@
   xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
   xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/">
   <channel>
-    <title>{{config.title}}</title>
-    <link>{{config.url}}</link>
-    <atom:link href="{{config.url}}/rss.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/>
+    <title>{{config.get('info', 'title')}}</title>
+    <link>{{config.get('url', 'main')}}</link>
+    <atom:link href="{{config.get('url', 'main')}}/rss.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/>
     <description>Short site description.</description>
     <language>en-us</language>
     <category>Blog</category>
     <copyright>Copyright 2021 Somebody</copyright>
     <managingEditor>some@one.com (Sombody)</managingEditor>
     <webMaster>some@one.com (Sombody)</webMaster>
-    <pubDate>{{config.run_date_rss}}</pubDate>
-    <lastBuildDate>{{run_date_rss}}</lastBuildDate>
-    <generator>pyssg v{{config.version}}</generator>
+    <pubDate>{{config.get('info', 'rss_run_date')}}</pubDate>
+    <lastBuildDate>{{config.get('info', 'rss_run_date')}}</lastBuildDate>
+    <generator>pyssg v{{config.get('info', 'version')}}</generator>
     <docs>https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html</docs>
     <ttl>30</ttl>
     <image>
-      <url>{{config.static_url}}/images/blog.png</url>
-      <title>{{config.title}}</title>
-      <link>{{config.url}}</link>
+      <url>{{config.get('url', 'static')}}/images/blog.png</url>
+      <title>{{config.get('info', 'title')}}</title>
+      <link>{{config.get('url', 'main')}}</link>
     </image>
     {%for p in all_pages%}
     <item>
diff --git a/src/pyssg/plt/sitemap.xml b/src/pyssg/plt/sitemap.xml
index 26ee5c1..af1212a 100644
--- a/src/pyssg/plt/sitemap.xml
+++ b/src/pyssg/plt/sitemap.xml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
   {%for t in all_tags%}
     <url>
       <loc>{{t[1]}}</loc>
-      <lastmod>{{config.run_date_sitemap}}</lastmod>
+      <lastmod>{{config.get('info', 'sitemap_run_date')}}</lastmod>
       <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
       <priority>0.5</priority>
     </url>
diff --git a/src/pyssg/plt/tag.html b/src/pyssg/plt/tag.html
index d856ce4..ffd1956 100644
--- a/src/pyssg/plt/tag.html
+++ b/src/pyssg/plt/tag.html
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 <html lang="en">
   <head>
     <meta charset="utf-8">
-    <base href="{{config.static_url}}">
-    <title>Posts filtered by {{tag[0]}} -- {{config.title}}</title>
+    <base href="{{config.get('url', 'static')}}">
+    <title>Posts filtered by {{tag[0]}} -- {{config.get('info', 'title')}}</title>
   </head>
   <body>
   <h1>Posts filtered by {{tag[0]}}</h1>
diff --git a/src/pyssg/pyssg.py b/src/pyssg/pyssg.py
index e694565..9b82231 100644
--- a/src/pyssg/pyssg.py
+++ b/src/pyssg/pyssg.py
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 import os
-import shutil
-from importlib.resources import path
+import sys
+from importlib.resources import path as rpath
 from typing import Union
+from configparser import ConfigParser
 
 from jinja2 import Environment, FileSystemLoader
 from markdown import Markdown
@@ -9,61 +10,65 @@ from yafg import YafgExtension
 from MarkdownHighlight.highlight import HighlightExtension
 from markdown_checklist.extension import ChecklistExtension
 
+from .utils import create_dir, copy_file, sanity_check_path
 from .arg_parser import get_parsed_arguments
-from .configuration import Configuration
+from .configuration import get_parsed_config, DEFAULT_CONFIG_PATH, VERSION
 from .database import Database
 from .builder import Builder
 
 
 def main() -> None:
-    opts: dict[str, Union[str, bool]] = vars(get_parsed_arguments())
-    conf_path: str = opts['config']
-    conf_path = os.path.expandvars(conf_path)
-
-
-    config: Configuration = None
-    if os.path.exists('pyssgrc'):
-        config = Configuration('pyssgrc')
-    else:
-        config = Configuration(conf_path)
-
-    config.read()
-    config.fill_missing(opts)
-
-    if opts['version']:
-        print(f'pyssg v{config.version}')
-        return
-
-    if opts['init']:
-        try:
-            os.mkdir(config.src)
-            os.makedirs(os.path.join(config.dst, 'tag'))
-            os.mkdir(config.plt)
-        except FileExistsError:
-            pass
-
-        # copy basic template files
+    args: dict[str, Union[str, bool]] = vars(get_parsed_arguments())
+    if not len(sys.argv) > 1:
+        print(f'pyssg v{VERSION} - no arguments passed, --help for more')
+        sys.exit(0)
+
+    if args['version']:
+        print(f'pyssg v{VERSION}')
+        sys.exit(0)
+
+    config_path: str = args['config'] if args['config'] else DEFAULT_CONFIG_PATH
+    config_path = os.path.normpath(os.path.expandvars(config_path))
+    sanity_check_path(config_path)
+    config_dir, _ = os.path.split(config_path)
+
+    if args['copy_default_config']:
+        create_dir(config_dir)
+        with rpath('pyssg.plt', 'default.ini') as p:
+            copy_file(p, config_path)
+        sys.exit(0)
+
+    if not os.path.exists(config_path):
+        print(f'''config file does't exist in path "{config_path}"; make sure
+                  the path is correct; use --copy-default-config to if you
+                  haven't already''')
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    config: ConfigParser = get_parsed_config(config_path)
+
+    if args['init']:
+        create_dir(config.get('path', 'src'))
+        create_dir(os.path.join(config.get('path', 'dst'), 'tag'), True)
+        create_dir(config.get('path', 'plt'))
         files: list[str] = ('index.html',
                             'page.html',
                             'tag.html',
                             'rss.xml',
                             'sitemap.xml')
         for f in files:
-            plt_file: str = os.path.join(config.plt, f)
-            with path('pyssg.plt', f) as p:
-                if not os.path.exists(plt_file):
-                    shutil.copy(p, plt_file)
-
-        return
+            plt_file: str = os.path.join(config.get('path', 'plt'), f)
+            with rpath('pyssg.plt', f) as p:
+                copy_file(p, plt_file)
+        sys.exit(0)
 
-    if opts['build']:
+    if args['build']:
         # start the db
-        db: Database = Database(os.path.join(config.src, '.files'))
+        db: Database = Database(os.path.join(config.get('path', 'src'), '.files'))
         db.read()
 
         # the autoescape option could be a security risk if used in a dynamic
         # website, as far as i can tell
-        env: Environment = Environment(loader=FileSystemLoader(config.plt),
+        env: Environment = Environment(loader=FileSystemLoader(config.get('path', 'plt')),
                                        autoescape=False,
                                        trim_blocks=True,
                                        lstrip_blocks=True)
@@ -92,4 +97,4 @@ def main() -> None:
         builder.build()
 
         db.write()
-        return
+        sys.exit(0)
diff --git a/src/pyssg/utils.py b/src/pyssg/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8e5d90e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/pyssg/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+import os
+import sys
+import shutil
+
+
+def create_dir(path: str, p: bool=False) -> None:
+    try:
+        if p:
+            os.makedirs(path)
+        else:
+            os.mkdir(path)
+        print(f'created directory "{path}"')
+    except FileExistsError:
+        print(f'directory "{path}" already exists')
+
+
+def copy_file(src: str, dst: str) -> None:
+    if not os.path.exists(dst):
+        shutil.copy(src, dst)
+        print(f'copied file "{src}" to "{dst}"')
+    else:
+        print(f'"{dst}" already exists')
+
+
+def sanity_check_path(path: str) -> None:
+    if '$' in  path:
+        print(f'"$" character found in path: "{path}"; could be due to non-existant env var.')
+        sys.exit(1)