diff -r 8f22e03f5f07 Doc/library/configparser.rst
--- a/Doc/library/configparser.rst	Tue Jun 25 08:11:22 2013 -0400
+++ b/Doc/library/configparser.rst	Wed Jun 26 01:17:44 2013 +0200
@@ -142,12 +142,13 @@
    >>> float(topsecret['CompressionLevel'])
    9.0
 
-Extracting Boolean values is not that simple, though.  Passing the value
-to ``bool()`` would do no good since ``bool('False')`` is still
-``True``.  This is why config parsers also provide :meth:`getboolean`.
-This method is case-insensitive and recognizes Boolean values from
-``'yes'``/``'no'``, ``'on'``/``'off'`` and ``'1'``/``'0'`` [1]_.
-For example:
+Since this task is so common, config parsers provide a range of handy getter
+methods to handle integers, floats and booleans.  The last one is the most
+interesting because simply passing the value to ``bool()`` would do no good
+since ``bool('False')`` is still ``True``.  This is why config parsers also
+provide :meth:`getboolean`.  This method is case-insensitive and recognizes
+Boolean values from ``'yes'``/``'no'``, ``'on'``/``'off'``,
+``'true'``/``'false'`` and ``'1'``/``'0'`` [1]_.  For example:
 
 .. doctest::
 
@@ -159,10 +160,8 @@
    True
 
 Apart from :meth:`getboolean`, config parsers also provide equivalent
-:meth:`getint` and :meth:`getfloat` methods, but these are far less
-useful since conversion using :func:`int` and :func:`float` is
-sufficient for these types.
-
+:meth:`getint` and :meth:`getfloat` methods. You can register your own
+converters and customize the provided ones. [1]_
 
 Fallback Values
 ---------------
@@ -663,6 +662,22 @@
   `dedicated documentation section <#interpolation-of-values>`_.
   :class:`RawConfigParser` has a default value of ``None``.
 
+* *converters*, default value: not set
+
+  Config parsers provide option value getters doing type conversion. By default
+  they implement :meth:`getint` and :meth:`getfloat` and :meth:`getboolean`.
+  Users may pass a dictionary where each key is a name of the converter and
+  each value is a callable implementing said conversion. For instance, passing
+  ``{'decimal': decimal.Decimal}`` would add :meth:`getdecimal` on both the
+  parser object and all section proxies.  In other words, it will be possible
+  to write both ``parser_instance.getdecimal('section', 'key')`` and
+  ``parser_instance['section'].getdecimal('key')``.
+  
+  If the converter needs to access the state of the parser, it can be
+  implemented as a callable object that stores a reference to the parser.  In
+  this case the converter can only be registered after parser initialization by
+  updating the ``parser_instance.converters`` mapping.
+
 
 More advanced customization may be achieved by overriding default values of
 these parser attributes.  The defaults are defined on the classes, so they
diff -r 8f22e03f5f07 Lib/configparser.py
--- a/Lib/configparser.py	Tue Jun 25 08:11:22 2013 -0400
+++ b/Lib/configparser.py	Wed Jun 26 01:17:44 2013 +0200
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@
     __init__(defaults=None, dict_type=_default_dict, allow_no_value=False,
              delimiters=('=', ':'), comment_prefixes=('#', ';'),
              inline_comment_prefixes=None, strict=True,
-             empty_lines_in_values=True):
+             empty_lines_in_values=True, default_section='DEFAULT',
+             interpolation=<unset>, converters=<unset>):
         Create the parser. When `defaults' is given, it is initialized into the
         dictionary or intrinsic defaults. The keys must be strings, the values
         must be appropriate for %()s string interpolation.
@@ -47,6 +48,25 @@
         When `allow_no_value' is True (default: False), options without
         values are accepted; the value presented for these is None.
 
+        When `default_section' is given, the name of the special section is
+        named accordingly. By default it is called ``"DEFAULT"`` but this can
+        be customized to point to any other valid section name. Its current
+        value can be retrieved using the ``parser_instance.default_section``
+        attribute and may be modified at runtime.
+
+        When `interpolation` is given, it should be an Interpolation subclass
+        instance. It will be used as the handler for option value
+        pre-processing when using getters. RawConfigParser object s don't do
+        any sort of interpolation, whereas ConfigParser uses an instance of
+        BasicInterpolation. The library also provides a Buildout-inspired
+        ExtendedInterpolation implementation.
+
+        When `converters` is given, it should be a dictionary where each key
+        is name of a type converter and each value is a callable implementing
+        the conversion from string to the desired datatype. Every converter
+        gets its corresponding get*() method on the parser object and section
+        proxies.
+
     sections()
         Return all the configuration section names, sans DEFAULT.
 
@@ -597,11 +617,12 @@
                  comment_prefixes=('#', ';'), inline_comment_prefixes=None,
                  strict=True, empty_lines_in_values=True,
                  default_section=DEFAULTSECT,
-                 interpolation=_UNSET):
+                 interpolation=_UNSET, converters=_UNSET):
 
         self._dict = dict_type
         self._sections = self._dict()
         self._defaults = self._dict()
+        self._converters = ConverterMapping(self)
         self._proxies = self._dict()
         self._proxies[default_section] = SectionProxy(self, default_section)
         if defaults:
@@ -629,6 +650,13 @@
             self._interpolation = self._DEFAULT_INTERPOLATION
         if self._interpolation is None:
             self._interpolation = Interpolation()
+        self._converters.update({
+            'int': int,
+            'float': float,
+            'boolean': self._convert_to_boolean,
+        })
+        if converters is not _UNSET:
+            self._converters.update(converters)
 
     def defaults(self):
         return self._defaults
@@ -790,39 +818,9 @@
                                                   d)
 
     def _get(self, section, conv, option, **kwargs):
+        # No longer used, kept for backward compatibility.
         return conv(self.get(section, option, **kwargs))
 
-    def getint(self, section, option, *, raw=False, vars=None,
-               fallback=_UNSET):
-        try:
-            return self._get(section, int, option, raw=raw, vars=vars)
-        except (NoSectionError, NoOptionError):
-            if fallback is _UNSET:
-                raise
-            else:
-                return fallback
-
-    def getfloat(self, section, option, *, raw=False, vars=None,
-                 fallback=_UNSET):
-        try:
-            return self._get(section, float, option, raw=raw, vars=vars)
-        except (NoSectionError, NoOptionError):
-            if fallback is _UNSET:
-                raise
-            else:
-                return fallback
-
-    def getboolean(self, section, option, *, raw=False, vars=None,
-                   fallback=_UNSET):
-        try:
-            return self._get(section, self._convert_to_boolean, option,
-                             raw=raw, vars=vars)
-        except (NoSectionError, NoOptionError):
-            if fallback is _UNSET:
-                raise
-            else:
-                return fallback
-
     def items(self, section=_UNSET, raw=False, vars=None):
         """Return a list of (name, value) tuples for each option in a section.
 
@@ -1171,6 +1169,20 @@
             if not isinstance(value, str):
                 raise TypeError("option values must be strings")
 
+    def _get_conv(self, section, option, conv, *, raw=False, vars=None,
+                  fallback=_UNSET, **kwargs):
+        try:
+            return conv(self.get(section, option, raw=raw, vars=vars, **kwargs))
+        except (NoSectionError, NoOptionError):
+            if fallback is _UNSET:
+                raise
+            else:
+                return fallback
+
+    @property
+    def converters(self):
+        return self._converters
+
 
 class ConfigParser(RawConfigParser):
     """ConfigParser implementing interpolation."""
@@ -1211,6 +1223,10 @@
         """Creates a view on a section of the specified `name` in `parser`."""
         self._parser = parser
         self._name = name
+        for conv in parser.converters:
+            key = 'get' + conv
+            getter = functools.partial(self.get, _impl=getattr(parser, key))
+            setattr(self, key, getter)
 
     def __repr__(self):
         return '<Section: {}>'.format(self._name)
@@ -1244,22 +1260,6 @@
         else:
             return self._parser.defaults()
 
-    def get(self, option, fallback=None, *, raw=False, vars=None):
-        return self._parser.get(self._name, option, raw=raw, vars=vars,
-                                fallback=fallback)
-
-    def getint(self, option, fallback=None, *, raw=False, vars=None):
-        return self._parser.getint(self._name, option, raw=raw, vars=vars,
-                                   fallback=fallback)
-
-    def getfloat(self, option, fallback=None, *, raw=False, vars=None):
-        return self._parser.getfloat(self._name, option, raw=raw, vars=vars,
-                                     fallback=fallback)
-
-    def getboolean(self, option, fallback=None, *, raw=False, vars=None):
-        return self._parser.getboolean(self._name, option, raw=raw, vars=vars,
-                                       fallback=fallback)
-
     @property
     def parser(self):
         # The parser object of the proxy is read-only.
@@ -1269,3 +1269,64 @@
     def name(self):
         # The name of the section on a proxy is read-only.
         return self._name
+
+    def get(self, option, fallback=None, *, raw=False, vars=None,
+            _impl=None, **kwargs):
+        """Get an option value.
+
+        Unless `fallback` is provided, `None` will be returned if the option
+        is not found.
+
+        """
+        # If `_impl` is provided, it should be a getter method on the parser
+        # object that provides the desired type conversion.
+        if not _impl:
+            _impl = self._parser.get
+        return _impl(self._name, option, raw=raw, vars=vars,
+                     fallback=fallback, **kwargs)
+
+
+class ConverterMapping(MutableMapping):
+    """Enables reusing get*() methods on the main parser and section
+    proxies.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, parser):
+        self._parser = parser
+        self._data = {}
+
+    def __getitem__(self, key):
+        return self._data[key]
+
+    def __setitem__(self, key, value):
+        try:
+            k = 'get' + (key or None)
+        except TypeError:
+            raise ValueError('Incompatible key: {} (type: {})'
+                             ''.format(key, type(key)))
+        self._data[key] = value
+        func = functools.partial(self._parser._get_conv, conv=value)
+        func.converter = value
+        setattr(self._parser, k, func)
+        for proxy in self._parser.values():
+            getter = functools.partial(proxy.get, _impl=func)
+            setattr(proxy, k, getter)
+
+    def __delitem__(self, key):
+        try:
+            k = 'get' + (key or None)
+        except TypeError:
+            raise KeyError(key)
+        del self._data[key]
+        try:
+            delattr(self._parser, k)
+            for proxy in self._parser.values():
+                delattr(proxy, k)
+        except AttributeError:
+            raise KeyError(k)
+
+    def __iter__(self):
+        return iter(self._data)
+
+    def __len__(self):
+        return len(self._data)
diff -r 8f22e03f5f07 Lib/test/test_configparser.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_configparser.py	Tue Jun 25 08:11:22 2013 -0400
+++ b/Lib/test/test_configparser.py	Wed Jun 26 01:17:44 2013 +0200
@@ -1765,5 +1765,58 @@
         self.assertEqual(s['k3'], 'v3;#//still v3# and still v3')
 
 
+class ConvertersTestCase(BasicTestCase, unittest.TestCase):
+    config_class = configparser.ConfigParser
+
+    def newconfig(self, defaults=None):
+        instance = super().newconfig(defaults=defaults)
+        instance.converters['list'] = lambda v: [e.strip() for e in v.split()
+                                                 if e.strip()]
+        return instance
+
+    def test_converters(self):
+        cfg = self.newconfig()
+        cfg.read_string("""
+        [s]
+        str = string
+        int = 1
+        float = 0.5
+        list = a b c d e f g
+        bool = yes
+        """)
+        s = cfg['s']
+        self.assertEqual(s['str'], 'string')
+        self.assertEqual(s['int'], '1')
+        self.assertEqual(s['float'], '0.5')
+        self.assertEqual(s['list'], 'a b c d e f g')
+        self.assertEqual(s['bool'], 'yes')
+        self.assertEqual(cfg.get('s', 'str'), 'string')
+        self.assertEqual(cfg.get('s', 'int'), '1')
+        self.assertEqual(cfg.get('s', 'float'), '0.5')
+        self.assertEqual(cfg.get('s', 'list'), 'a b c d e f g')
+        self.assertEqual(cfg.get('s', 'bool'), 'yes')
+        self.assertEqual(cfg.get('s', 'str'), 'string')
+        self.assertEqual(cfg.getint('s', 'int'), 1)
+        self.assertEqual(cfg.getfloat('s', 'float'), 0.5)
+        self.assertEqual(cfg.getlist('s', 'list'), ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd',
+                                                    'e', 'f', 'g'])
+        self.assertEqual(cfg.getboolean('s', 'bool'), True)
+        self.assertEqual(s.get('str'), 'string')
+        self.assertEqual(s.getint('int'), 1)
+        self.assertEqual(s.getfloat('float'), 0.5)
+        self.assertEqual(s.getlist('list'), ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd',
+                                             'e', 'f', 'g'])
+        self.assertEqual(s.getboolean('bool'), True)
+        with self.assertRaises(AttributeError):
+            cfg.getdecimal('s', 'float')
+        with self.assertRaises(AttributeError):
+            s.getdecimal('float')
+        import decimal
+        cfg.converters['decimal'] = decimal.Decimal
+        dec0_5 = decimal.Decimal('0.5')
+        self.assertEqual(cfg.getdecimal('s', 'float'), dec0_5)
+        self.assertEqual(s.getdecimal('float'), dec0_5)
+
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()