--- a/configuration/configuration.py	Sun Apr 29 19:18:11 2012 -0700
+++ b/configuration/configuration.py	Mon Apr 30 11:07:17 2012 -0700
@@ -361,16 +361,28 @@
         return getattr(handler, 'take_action', lambda x: 1)
 
     def option_type(self, name):
+        """get the type of an option named `name`"""
+
         value = self.option_dict[name]
         if 'type' in value:
             return value['type']
         if 'default' in value:
+            default = value['default']
+            if default is None:
+                return None
             return type(value['default'])
 
     def optparse_options(self, parser):
         """add optparse options to a OptionParser instance"""
         for key, value in self.items():
-            handler = self.types[self.option_type(key)]
+            try:
+                handler = self.types[self.option_type(key)]
+            except:
+                # XXX print this for now
+                # ultimately, if an option can't be coerced to a type
+                # we should just not add a CLI handler for it
+                print key, value
+                raise
             args, kw = handler(key, value)
             if not args:
                 # No CLI interface