--- a/configuration/config.py	Tue Mar 27 16:58:48 2012 -0700
+++ b/configuration/config.py	Tue Mar 27 17:04:31 2012 -0700
@@ -183,10 +183,28 @@
     options = {} # configuration basis
 
     def __init__(self, configuration_providers=configuration_providers, types=types, **parser_args):
+
+        # setup configuration
         self.config = {}
         self.configuration_providers = configuration_providers
         self.types = types
+
+        # setup optionparser
+        if 'description' not in parser_args:
+            parser_args['description'] = getattr(self, '__doc__', '')
+            if 'formatter' not in parser_args:
+                class PlainDescriptionFormatter(optparse.IndentedHelpFormatter):
+                    """description formatter for console script entry point"""
+                    def format_description(self, description):
+                        if description:
+                            return description.strip() + '\n'
+                        else:
+                            return ''
+                parser_args['formatter'] = PlainDescriptionFormatter()
+        parser_args.setdefault('option_class', ConfigurationOption)
         optparse.OptionParser.__init__(self, **parser_args)
+        self.parsed = set()
+        self.optparse_options(self)
 
     ### methods for iteration
     ### TODO: make this a real iterator