sub get_options
{
    #process any command line options
    my $config = shift; #hash ref

    my ($debug,$test,$ini_file,$max_files,
        $data_dir,$log_dir,$user,$pass,$verbose,
        $no_ini);

    GetOptions('debug=i'     => \$debug,
               'test=i'      => \$test,
               'ini_file=s'  => \$ini_file,
               'max_files=i' => \$max_files,
               'data_dir=s'  => \$data_dir,
               'log_dir=s'   => \$log_dir,
               'user=s'      => \$user,
               'pass=s'      => \$pass,
               'verbose=i'   => \$verbose,
               'no_ini'      => \$no_ini,
               );

    $config->{debug} = $debug if defined $debug;
    $config->{test} = $test if defined $test;
    $config->{ini_file} = $ini_file if defined $ini_file;
    $config->{max_files} = $max_files if defined $max_files;
    $config->{data_dir} = $data_dir if defined $data_dir;
    $config->{log_dir} = $log_dir if defined $log_dir;
    $config->{user} = $user if defined $user;
    $config->{password} = $pass if defined $pass;
    $config->{verbose} = $verbose if defined $verbose;
    $config->{no_ini} = $no_ini if defined $no_ini;

}

sub init_config
{
    #initialize the config parameters for the program
    my $config = shift; #hash ref
    
    my $bindir = $FindBin::Bin;

    #these get set no matter what
    $config->{version} = $VERSION;   #these first two are just program constants
    $config->{revision} = ($REVISION =~ /(\d+\.\d+)/) ? $1 : '?';

    #if command line option -no_ini specified, then don't try to load the ini file
    unless ($config->{no_ini})
    {
        #process the ini file

        #if we already have an ini_file, use that one, otherwise use the default file
        my $config_file = $config{ini_file} || "$bindir/configfile.ini"; #default name for ini file

        my $ini = new ConfigIni($config_file) || croak "could not load ini file $config_file";
        $config->{ini_file} = $config_file if not defined $config->{ini_file};

        #now load and set the parameters

        $config->{debug} = $ini->get_ini_val('Debug','Debug',0) if not defined $config->{debug};
        $config->{test}  = $ini->get_ini_val('Debug','Test',0) if not defined $config->{test};
        $config->{max_files} = $ini->get_ini_val('Debug','Max_files',0) if not defined $config->{max_files};

        $config->{data_dir} = $ini->get_ini_val('General','Data_dir') if not defined $config->{data_dir};

        $config->{log_dir} = $ini->get_ini_val('General','Log_dir') if not defined $config->{log_dir};

        $config->{user} = $ini->get_ini_val('General','User') if not defined $config->{user};
        $config->{password} = $ini->get_ini_val('General','Password') if not defined $config->{password};

        $config->{verbose} = $ini->get_ini_val('General','Verbose',1) if not defined $config->{verbose};

    } #unless ($config->{no_ini})
    
    #if log_dir isn't set, put logs in the same directory as the program
    $config->{log_dir} ||= $bindir;
    $config->{log_file} = $config{log_dir} . "/log_file_" . strftime("%Y%m%d_%H%M%S_",localtime) . "$$.log";

    #init anything that needs to be and might not have been done on either command line or ini_file
    $config->{debug} = 0 if not defined $config->{debug};
    $config->{test} =  0 if not defined $config->{test};
    $config->{verbose} = 1 if not defined $config->{verbose};
    $config->{max_files} = 0 if not defined $config->{max_files};

    #check to make sure info is complete
    croak "User must be specified in [General] section of ini file" if !defined $config->{user};
    croak "Password must be specified in [General] ini file" if !defined $config->{password};
    croak "Data_dir must be specified in [General] section of ini file" if !defined $config->{data_dir};
} #sub init_config