code: def initial_dist_from_config(cp, variable_params):
      r
      if len(cp.get_subsections("initial")):
          logging.info("Using a different distribution for the starting points "
                       "than the prior.")
          initial_dists = distributions.read_distributions_from_config(
              cp, section="initial")
          constraints = distributions.read_constraints_from_config(
              cp, constraint_section="initial_constraint")
          init_dist = distributions.JointDistribution(
              variable_params, *initial_dists,
              **{"constraints": constraints})
      else:
          init_dist = None
      return init_dist
docs: r"""Loads a distribution for the sampler start from the given config file.
  
      A distribution will only be loaded if the config file has a [initial-\*]
      section(s).
  
      Parameters
      ----------
      cp : Config parser
          The config parser to try to load from.
      variable_params : list of str
          The variable parameters for the distribution.
  
      Returns
      -------
      JointDistribution or None :
          The initial distribution. If no [initial-\*] section found in the
          config file, will just return None.