Update ConfigManagingActor to send a dictionary (#969)

The `ConfigManagingActor` now sends a dictionary instead of the `Config`
object. The validation code done through the Config class was ancient
without any real purpose.

Sending a dictionary is more flexible and allows the user to use the
configuration as they see fit. The user can then validate the
configuration using marshmallow, pydantic, or any other library. Later,
the frequenz-SDK will provide functionality to validate configuration
based on the schema provided by the user, still needs to be assessed if
it will be done with pydantic, marshmallow, or another library.

Author: daniel-zullo-frequenz

RELEASE_NOTES.md

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 
    This applies to the `ConnectionManager` as well, which also now doesn't expose the `host` and `port` attributes, only the `server_url`. If you need to extract the host or port from the `server_url`, you can use the standard Python `urllib.parse.urlparse()` function.
 
+- The `Config` class was removed and the `ConfigManagingActor` now sends a plain dictionary rather than a `Config` object.
 
 ## New Features
 

pyproject.toml

@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ dependencies = [
   "frequenz-channels >= 1.0.0-rc1, < 2.0.0",
   "networkx >= 2.8, < 4",
   "numpy >= 1.26.4, < 2",
-  "pydantic >= 2.3, < 3",
   "typing_extensions >= 4.6.1, < 5",
 ]
 dynamic = ["version"]

src/frequenz/sdk/actor/_config_managing.py

@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 from frequenz.channels.file_watcher import EventType, FileWatcher
 
 from ..actor._actor import Actor
-from ..config import Config
 
 _logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -33,7 +32,7 @@ class ConfigManagingActor(Actor):
     def __init__(
         self,
         config_path: pathlib.Path | str,
-        output: Sender[Config],
+        output: Sender[dict[str, Any]],
         event_types: abc.Set[EventType] = frozenset(EventType),
         *,
         name: str | None = None,
@@ -42,7 +41,7 @@ def __init__(
 
         Args:
             config_path: The path to the TOML file with the configuration.
-            output: The sender to send the config to.
+            output: The sender to send the configuration to.
             event_types: The set of event types to monitor.
             name: The name of the actor. If `None`, `str(id(self))` will
                 be used. This is used mostly for debugging purposes.
@@ -59,7 +58,7 @@ def __init__(
         self._file_watcher: FileWatcher = FileWatcher(
             paths=[self._config_path.parent], event_types=event_types
         )
-        self._output: Sender[Config] = output
+        self._output: Sender[dict[str, Any]] = output
 
     def _read_config(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
         """Read the contents of the configuration file.
@@ -79,8 +78,7 @@ def _read_config(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
 
     async def send_config(self) -> None:
         """Send the configuration to the output sender."""
-        conf_vars = self._read_config()
-        config = Config(conf_vars)
+        config = self._read_config()
         await self._output.send(config)
 
     async def _run(self) -> None:

src/frequenz/sdk/config/__init__.py

@@ -3,16 +3,15 @@
 
 """Test for ConfigManager."""
 import pathlib
+from typing import Any
 
 import pytest
 from frequenz.channels import Broadcast
-from pydantic import BaseModel
 
 from frequenz.sdk.actor import ConfigManagingActor
-from frequenz.sdk.config import Config
 
 
-class Item(BaseModel):
+class Item:
     """Test item."""
 
     item_id: int
@@ -76,7 +75,7 @@ async def test_update(self, config_file: pathlib.Path) -> None:
         - the initial content of the content file is correct
         - the config file modifications are picked up and the new content is correct
         """
-        config_channel: Broadcast[Config] = Broadcast(
+        config_channel: Broadcast[dict[str, Any]] = Broadcast(
             name="Config Channel", resend_latest=True
         )
         config_receiver = config_channel.new_receiver()