updated the config files to a tempalte/local standard format

fccs_config.py

@@ -5,11 +5,13 @@ Shared configuration, logging, and utilities for the FCCS extraction tool.
 import os
 import re
 import sys
+import shutil
 import argparse
 import configparser
 from datetime import datetime
 
 DEFAULT_CONFIG = "config.ini"
+TEMPLATE_CONFIG = "config.template.ini"
 
 
 def parse_args():
@@ -24,12 +26,31 @@ def parse_args():
 
 
 def load_config(path=None):
-    """Read config.ini and return a ConfigParser object."""
+    """Read the config file and return a ConfigParser object.
+
+    Config is split into two files:
+      - config.template.ini : tracked in git, the pristine template.
+      - config.ini          : git-ignored, this machine's working copy.
+
+    When no explicit --config path is given, the per-machine config.ini is used.
+    If it doesn't exist yet, it's created from config.template.ini so a freshly
+    cloned/pulled repo works out of the box without editing the tracked file.
+    Edit config.ini locally; your changes never drift the repo.
+    """
     if path is None:
         script_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0]))
         path = os.path.join(script_dir, DEFAULT_CONFIG)
+        # Auto-create the per-machine config from the template on first run.
+        if not os.path.exists(path):
+            template = os.path.join(script_dir, TEMPLATE_CONFIG)
+            if os.path.exists(template):
+                shutil.copyfile(template, path)
+                print(f"Created {DEFAULT_CONFIG} from {TEMPLATE_CONFIG}. "
+                      f"Edit it for this machine's settings: {path}")
     if not os.path.exists(path):
         print(f"ERROR: config file not found: {path}")
+        print(f"       Expected {DEFAULT_CONFIG} or a --config path "
+              f"(template: {TEMPLATE_CONFIG}).")
         sys.exit(1)
     cfg = configparser.ConfigParser()
     cfg.read(path, encoding="utf-8")