docs: def parse_config(args=sys.argv):
      """Parse the args using the config_file pattern
  
      Args:
          args: sys.argv
  
      Returns:
          The populated namespace object from parser.parse_args().
  
      Raises:
          TBD
      """
      parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
          description='Read in the config file')
      parser.add_argument(
          'config_file',
          help='Configuration file.',
          metavar='FILE', type=extant_file)
      return parser.parse_args(args[1:])