why_oh_why.py

def _load(path, fsrw_class=None):
    """Returns a dictionary of configuration by reading from the configuration
    file."""
    if fsrw_class is None:
        fsrw_class = FileSystemReaderWriter
    
    config_file = fsrw_class(path)
    config_file.ensure_file_exists()
    config_text = config_file.read_lines()
    line = u"".join(config_text).strip()
    
    if line == u"":
        overrides = {}
    else:
        overrides = json.loads(line)
    return overrides

  
class FileSystemReaderWriter(object):

    def __init__(self, path):
        from .utils import expand_path
        assert path is not None
        self.path = expand_path(path)

    def ensure_path_exists(self):
        self._ensure_path_exists(self.path)

    def ensure_file_exists(self):
        self._ensure_path_exists(os.path.dirname(self.path))
        if not os.path.exists(self.path):
            open(self.path, 'w').close()

    def read_lines(self):
        if os.path.isfile(self.path):
            with open(self.path, "r") as f:
                return f.readlines()
        else:
            return ""

    def overwrite_with_line(self, line):
        with open(self.path, "w+") as f:
            f.writelines(line)

    def _ensure_path_exists(self, path):
        try:
            os.makedirs(path)
        except OSError:
            if not os.path.isdir(path):
                raise