code: public Serializable parseConfig (File source)
          throws IOException, SAXException
      {
          Digester digester = new Digester();
          Serializable config = createConfigObject();
          addRules(digester);
          digester.push(config);
          digester.parse(new FileInputStream(source));
          return config;
      }
docs: Parses the supplied configuration file into a serializable configuration object.