the best lua config loader idst

config.cfg

hostname  = "localhost"
reconnect = true
attempts  = 10
ignore    = { "user1", "user2" }
channels  = {}

for i = 1, 4 do
    channels[i] = "#channel" .. i
end

include "config2.cfg"

config.lua

local function include(name, env)
    local cfg, err = assert(loadfile(name, "t", env))
    if setfenv then
        setfenv(cfg, env) 
    end
    cfg()
    return env
end

local function load(name, env)
    env = setmetatable(env or {},
        { __index = { include = function(f) return include(f, env) end } }
    )
    local ok, env = xpcall(function()
        debug.sethook(function() error("timed out") end, "c", 1e5)
        include(name, env)
        debug.sethook()
    end, debug.traceback)
    return ok and env or nil, ok or env
end

return { load = load }

example.lua

local config = require "config"
local cfg = config.load("config.cfg")
print(cfg.hostname, cfg.attempts, cfg.channels[1])
--> localhost    10  #channel1