open(CONF, '<conf-main.txt')
	or die "Can't open file: $!";

my ( %config, $setting );
while ( my $line = <CONF> ) {
	chomp $line;
	# skip blank lines
	next if $line =~ /^\s*$/;
	# find named sections
	if ( $line =~ /^\[(\w+)\]/ ) {
		$setting = $1;
		next;
	}
	# save values
	if ( exists $config{$setting} ) {
		# squash into an array if already set
		$config{$setting} = ref($config{$setting}) ?
			[ @{ $config{$setting} }, $line ] :
			[ $config{$setting}, $line ];
	}
	else {
		$config{$setting} = $line;
	}
}