cookiecutter ignores dictionary variables specified in config-file

[dHannasch]

• Cookiecutter version: 1.6.0
• Template project url: https://github.com/dHannasch/cookiecutter-pypackage --checkout try-to-make-a-complex-multiple-choice
• Python version: 3.7
• Operating System: Ubuntu 16.04

Description:

I am trying to save/load values for dictionary variables in a config file.
However, cookiecutter silently ignores the given value.
I expected the given value to not be ignored.

What I've run:

$ ~/anaconda3/envs/python37env/bin/cookiecutter https://github.com/dHannasch/cookiecutter-pypackage --checkout try-to-make-a-complex-multiple-choice --default-config
full_name [Audrey Roy Greenfeld]: 
email [audreyr@example.com]: 
github_username [audreyr]: 
project_name [Python Boilerplate]: 
project_slug [python_boilerplate]: 
project_short_description [Python Boilerplate contains all the boilerplate you need to create a Python package.]: 
pypi_username [audreyr]: 
Select link_to_website:
1 - {'link_immediately': 'y', 'disable_forever': 'n'}
2 - {'link_immediately': 'n', 'disable_forever': 'n'}
3 - {'link_immediately': 'n', 'disable_forever': 'y'}
Choose from 1, 2, 3 (1, 2, 3) [1]: 2
version [0.1.0]: 
use_pytest [n]: 
use_pypi_deployment_with_travis [y]: 
add_pyup_badge [n]: 
Select command_line_interface:
1 - Click
2 - No command-line interface
Choose from 1, 2 (1, 2) [1]: 
create_author_file [y]: 
Select open_source_license:
1 - MIT license
2 - BSD license
3 - ISC license
4 - Apache Software License 2.0
5 - GNU General Public License v3
6 - Not open source
Choose from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) [1]: 

Encoded in a config file, these choices are:

default_context:

    _template:                 'cookiecutter-pypackage/'
    add_pyup_badge:            'n'
    command_line_interface:    'Click'
    create_author_file:        'y'
    email:                     'audreyr@example.com'
    full_name:                 'Audrey Roy Greenfeld'
    github_username:           'audreyr'
    link_to_website:           {'link_immediately': 'n', 'disable_forever': 'n'}
    open_source_license:       'MIT license'
    project_name:              'Python Boilerplate'
    project_short_description: 'Python Boilerplate contains all the boilerplate you need to create a Python package.'
    project_slug:              'python_boilerplate'
    pypi_username:             'audreyr'
    use_pypi_deployment_with_travis: 'y'
    use_pytest:                'n'
    version:                   '0.1.0'

So far so good.

$ cd python_boilerplate/
python_boilerplate$ git init
Initialized empty Git repository in /tmp/python_boilerplate/.git/
python_boilerplate$ git add --all
python_boilerplate$ git commit -a -m "Create initial git commit so that we can see the git diff later."
python_boilerplate$ cd ..
$ ~/anaconda3/envs/python37env/bin/cookiecutter https://github.com/dHannasch/cookiecutter-pypackage --checkout try-to-make-a-complex-multiple-choice --config-file python_boilerplate/cookiecutterrc --overwrite-if-exists
You've downloaded /ascldap/users/dahanna/.cookiecutters/cookiecutter-pypackage before. Is it okay to delete and re-download it? [yes]: 
full_name [Audrey Roy Greenfeld]: 
email [audreyr@example.com]: 
github_username [audreyr]: 
project_name [Python Boilerplate]: 
project_slug [python_boilerplate]: 
project_short_description [Python Boilerplate contains all the boilerplate you need to create a Python package.]: 
pypi_username [audreyr]: 
Select link_to_website:
1 - {'link_immediately': 'y', 'disable_forever': 'n'}
2 - {'link_immediately': 'n', 'disable_forever': 'n'}
3 - {'link_immediately': 'n', 'disable_forever': 'y'}
Choose from 1, 2, 3 (1, 2, 3) [1]: 

Huh! The choice in the config-file is silently ignored. And indeed if we check the output, it uses the original default choice, not the choice in the config file.

I also tried

    link_to_website:           2

which is also silently ignored.

Breaking the dictionary up into YAML also doesn't work:

    link_to_website:
      link_immediately: 'n'
      disable_forever: 'n'

(That part isn't new information --- @lbrack tried nesting in YAML and that didn't work. #1149
It looks like @lbrack wrote a fix (?) but I don't see a pull request at the moment. lbrack@c9eb982)

I don't think it matters much whether the config-file is valid YAML, just as long as there's some way to store choices. As @lbrack noted, we totally can enter dictionaries on the command line, and it works great:

operating_systems [default]: {"windows": "n"}

It's strange that the config-files can't do the same thing, even without the proper nested YAML @lbrack wants. I haven't been able to puzzle out what's happening under the hood.