--- a/kallithea/lib/inifile.py	Thu Sep 14 02:08:06 2017 +0200
+++ b/kallithea/lib/inifile.py	Thu Sep 14 02:08:07 2017 +0200
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 
 import logging
 import re
+import os
 
 import mako.template
 
@@ -29,6 +30,19 @@
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
+template_file = os.path.join(
+    os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(__file__))),
+    'kallithea/lib/paster_commands/template.ini.mako')
+
+default_variables = {
+    'database_engine': 'sqlite',
+    'http_server': 'waitress',
+    'host': '127.0.0.1',
+    'port': '5000',
+    'uuid': lambda: 'VERY-SECRET',
+}
+
+
 def expand(template, mako_variable_values, settings):
     """Expand mako template and tweak it.
     Not entirely stable for random templates as input, but good enough for our
@@ -81,9 +95,11 @@
     third_extra =  3
     <BLANKLINE>
     """
+    mako_variables = dict(default_variables)
+    mako_variables.update(mako_variable_values or {})
     settings = dict((k, dict(v)) for k, v in settings.items()) # deep copy before mutating
 
-    ini_lines = mako.template.Template(template).render(**mako_variable_values)
+    ini_lines = mako.template.Template(template).render(**mako_variables)
 
     def process_section(m):
         """process a ini section, replacing values as necessary"""
@@ -131,3 +147,14 @@
             if section_settings)
 
     return ini_lines
+
+
+def create(dest_file, mako_variable_values, settings):
+    """Create an ini file at dest_file"""
+    with open(template_file, 'rb') as f:
+        template = f.read().decode('utf-8')
+
+    ini_lines = expand(template, mako_variable_values, settings)
+
+    with open(dest_file, 'wb') as f:
+        f.write(ini_lines.encode('utf-8'))

--- a/scripts/generate-ini.py	Thu Sep 14 02:08:06 2017 +0200
+++ b/scripts/generate-ini.py	Thu Sep 14 02:08:07 2017 +0200
@@ -9,17 +9,6 @@
 
 from kallithea.lib import inifile
 
-makofile = 'kallithea/lib/paster_commands/template.ini.mako'
-
-# the mako variables used in all other ini files and templates
-mako_variable_values = {
-    'database_engine': 'sqlite',
-    'http_server': 'waitress',
-    'host': '127.0.0.1',
-    'port': '5000',
-    'uuid': lambda: 'VERY-SECRET',
-}
-
 # files to be generated from the mako template
 ini_files = [
     ('kallithea/tests/test.ini',
@@ -69,6 +58,7 @@
 
 def main():
     # make sure all mako lines starting with '#' (the '##' comments) are marked up as <text>
+    makofile = inifile.template_file
     print 'reading:', makofile
     mako_org = open(makofile).read()
     mako_no_text_markup = re.sub(r'</?%text>', '', mako_org)
@@ -80,8 +70,8 @@
     # create ini files
     for fn, settings in ini_files:
         print 'updating:', fn
-        ini_lines = inifile.expand(mako_marked_up, mako_variable_values, settings)
-        open(fn, 'w').write(ini_lines)
+        inifile.create(fn, None, settings)
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     main()