New: configuration file

I'm not closing the issue because it still won't necessarily be used---like not
with the default startup script.

Working toward #42

abbott/__init__.py

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 define('licence', default=False, type=bool, help='show licence information')
 define('license', default=False, type=bool, help='show license information')
 define('copyright', default=False, type=bool, help='show copyright information')
+define('options_file', default='', type=str, help='optional path to the server configuration file')
 
 from abbott import *
 # we must retain this import statement to ensure that all modules will be imported with

abbott/__main__.py

@@ -97,11 +97,19 @@ def main():
     '''
 
     try:
-        options.parse_command_line()
+        options.parse_command_line(final=False)
     except OptionsError as opt_err:
         print(str(opt_err))
         return
 
+    # see if there's a configuration file for us
+    if len(options.options_file) > 1:
+        try:
+            options.parse_config_file(options.options_file, final=True)
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            print('Could not find the options file "{}"\nQuitting.'.format(options.options_file))
+            return
+
     # to allow --copyright, --license, and --licence to work identically
     if options.license or options.copyright:
         options.licence = True
@@ -145,6 +153,7 @@ def main():
     if options.debug:
         print('Listening on {}'.format(options.server_name))
 
+    # prepare settings for the HTTPServer
     settings = {'debug': options.debug,
                 'compress_response': not options.debug,
                }

scripts/server_configuration.py

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+#
+# Options Configuration File
+#
+# This file is part of the "Abbott" Web server for the Cantus API.
+# Abbott Copyright (C) 2015 Christopher Antila
+
+# The octothorpe character ("hashtag") begins a comment. Every other line is a possible
+# configuration option for Abbott. The file is parsed as Python.
+
+
+## General ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# "debug" starts the server in a debugging-friendly mode (with more logging information). Because
+# this exposes potentially sensitive information to remote clients, you should leave it False in
+# deployment.
+debug = False
+
+
+## URLs -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# "scheme" is either "http" or "https" as appropriate for links on Abbott itself.
+scheme = 'http'
+
+# "hostname" is the fully-qualified domain name as appropriate for links on Abbott itself.
+hostname = 'localhost'
+
+# "port" is the port on which Abbott should operate
+port = 8888
+
+
+## Logging ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# Level of messages to write to the log (debug, info, warning, error, none).
+if debug:
+    logging = 'debug'
+else:
+    logging = 'warning'
+
+# send log output to stderr (colourized if possible). This is the default if "log_file_prefix" is
+# not configured.
+#log_to_stderr = True
+
+# path prefix for log files. Note that if you are running multiple Tornado processes, this must be
+# different for each of them (e.g., include the port number)
+log_file_prefix = '/var/log/abbott/server.log'
+
+# number of log files to keep
+#log_file_num_backups = 10
+
+# "max size of log files before rollover
+#log_file_max_size = 100000000