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1.1 What is mConfig?

mConfig: unified, portable configuration access

What is it?

mConfig is a (Java) library for configuration access. It allows to access configuration data without prior knowledge.

  • compliant with OS/platform rules
  • from many sources (files, network, hardware, registries, environment, …)
  • in many formats (.properties, JSON, YAML, …)

It consists of several modules, so it can be kept small and adapted to the specific use case.

minimal example

    Configuration cfg = ConfigUtil.quickConfig("ACME","ourApp","itsConfig");
    String message = cfg.getString("hello");
    System.out.println(message);
See examples for the recommended way to do this, and sample code for some use cases.

getting started

Proceed to the Getting Started section for step-by-step instructions on integrating mConfig into your project, including dependencies, first code examples, and resource placement.

Features

  • unifying access, abstracting OS specifics
  • cross-platform development
  • support for CI/CD and automated testing

  • not a framework, but a modular library

  • File formats supported: JSON, JSON5, YAML, TOML, INI, Java Properties, raw binary and raw text files

  • File formats planned: ASN.1 and PEM, DHALL, HOCON.

Open Source

mConfig is an open source project distributed under the CC-BY-ND 4.0 license. Commercial use is free of charge. The source code is available on github.

Status

mConfig as of 0.7 is in pre-release; usable, but work in progress

Citing mConfig

If you use mConfig in research or technical documentation, you can cite it as:

metabit JWilkes. mConfig: Unified Configuration Access (2002-present). Available at: https://metabit.org

@misc{mConfig,
    author = { J.Wilkes, metabit },
    title = {mConfig: Unified Configuration Access},
    year = {2026},
    url = {https://metabit.org/}
}