--- a/configmix/__init__.py	Thu Mar 10 13:28:09 2016 +0100
+++ b/configmix/__init__.py	Thu Mar 10 15:08:20 2016 +0100
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-r"""
+r"""A library for helping with configuration files.
 
 :Author:   Franz Glasner
 :License:  BSD License.
@@ -15,8 +15,41 @@
 
 import copy
 
+from .config import Configuration
 
-__all__ = []
+
+__all__ = ["load", "Configuration"]
+
+
+def load(*files):
+    """Load the given configuration files, merge them in the given order
+    and return the resulting `Configuration` dictionary.
+
+    """
+    if not files:
+        return Configuration()
+    else:
+        ex = merge(None, _load_cfg_from_file(files[0]))
+        for f in files:
+            ex = merge(_load_cfg_from_file(f), ex)
+        return Configuration(ex)
+
+
+def _load_cfg_from_file(filename):
+    fnl = filename.lower()
+    if fnl.endswith(".yml") or fnl.endswith("yaml"):
+        from . import yaml
+        with open(filename, "rb") as yf:
+            return yaml.safe_load(yf)
+    elif fnl.endswith(".py"):
+        from . import py
+        return py.load(filename)
+    elif fnl.endswith(".ini"):
+        from . import ini
+        return ini.load(filename)
+    else:
+        raise ValueError("Unknown configuration file type for filename "
+                         "%r" % filename)
 
 
 if 0: