Switch to using JSON for configuration settings

[astrochun]

Summary

In the past, we used a config INI file and configparser to parse the configuration. This was identical to how we did it with ReQUIAM. Over time, the complexity of configuration for LD-Cool-P grew. For example, handling multiple Deposit Agreement survey required a string version of a list that was interpreted via ast.literal.
To simplify this, I recommend moving toward using a config.json file following a JSON schema. This will allow for long-term support of more complex configuration settings. It will also be easy to load the configuration using the built-in json library.

Objectives

A simplification of the configuration. While this is a change to the config file, we should ensure that it's backwards compatible. Namely that both .ini and .json files can be imported.

Proposal

• Build a .json template for the configuration
• Add in support for .json config file through dict_load
• Construct .json files for deployment
• Test a number of scripts with the .json settings

Testing notes

See above todo action.

Additional notes

Implemented in: TBD