def config_get_option_as_list(cfgparser, sectionname, optionname):
	"""retrieves a comma separated option from the configparser and splits it into a list, returning an empty list if it does not exist"""
	retval = []
	if (cfgparser.has_option(sectionname,optionname)):
		inputstr = cfgparser.get(sectionname,optionname)
		for tmp in inputstr.split(','):
			retval += [tmp.strip()]
	return retval