I quite like this suggestion, since it still just involves X=Y lines and not sections, and if I give the variables meaningfull names (similar to how they are referenced in the documentation), it will probably work quite well.

I agree, by the way, the config file should be as simple and liberal as possible, and accept a variety ways of doing things, even if it makes the parsing code complex. (It should be easy for them, not me), which is why I'm also ruling out using Perl, XML, YAML and so on.

Thanks, C.