Context

Currently there are some issues with how conda store server/workers are configured and how settings are persisted. There are 2 places where settings come from:

• the configuration file (provided at application startup)
• the settings db table - contains only a subset of settings to apply globally or to a namespace/environment

However, it is not entirely clear which of these get precedent when there is overlap, or how changes to settings in one place affect the other.

This leads to unpredictable beheviour, for example when you are running the service in a cloud environment. Sometimes redeploying a worker with new settings does not work, etc.

It would be nice to have:

• a way to configure conda-store servers/workers with a yaml/config language type file
• a clear understanding of which settings take precedent from each config source
• a unified way of checking settings in conda-store

Value and/or benefit

This change will:

• make it more clear to users where their config is coming from and how to change their deployment
• make the code for retrieving settings in conda-store-server more clear
• (hopefully) lay some ground work for enabling per environment/namespace settings