code: def _encode_config(conf_dict):
      
      out = []
  
      # get variables in order defined in settings._ALLOWED_MERGES
      for var in settings._ALLOWED_MERGES:
          out.append(conf_dict[var])
  
      # convert bools to chars
      out = map(
          lambda x: "t" if x else "f",
          out
      )
  
      return "".join(out)
docs: Encode `conf_dict` to string.