docs: def parse_config(file_path):
      """
      Convert the CISM configuration file to a python dictionary
  
      Args:
          file_path: absolute path to the configuration file
  
      Returns:
          A dictionary representation of the given file
      """
      if not os.path.isfile(file_path):
          return {}
      parser = ConfigParser()
      parser.read(file_path)
      # Strip out inline comments
      for s in parser._sections:
          for v in six.iterkeys(parser._sections[s]):
              parser._sections[s][v] = parser._sections[s][v].split("#")[0].strip()
      return parser._sections