sub read_ini {
    my( $file ) = @_;
    
    my %var;
    
    open my $fh, '<', $file or die "Cannot open file '$file': $!\n";
    
    while ( my $line = <$fh> ) {
        chomp $line;
        
        my( $k, $v ) = $line =~ /^\s*(\S+)\s*=\s*(\S+)\s*$/;

        if ( defined $k ) {
            $v =~ s/\$\{(.+?)\}/$var{$1}/g;
            $var{$k} = $v;
        } # if
    } # while
    
    close $fh;
    
    return \%var;
} # read_ini