One thing I dont get about this is why you need the "ftp_instances" key at all. I'd just have a bit of code that assumed that all Ini file sections whose name matches /^ftp/ are valid instances. Its easy enough to loop through the sections as needed, and it means that when somebody decides to delete one of the sections they dont have to remember to update the instances list, and it also means that if the users want to give the instances more descriptive names they can.

Also, an alternative for things like this is to use a DB for the config data. Of course that still leave the problem of where to put the DB connection details but allowing the user to manage their config through a web client or litte-gui may tickle their fancy more than using a config file.

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