def update_docs_config(new_version=None, authors=None):
    """
    Updates the conf.py for the Sphinx documentation with the new version
    string and an up to date authors list and copyright date.
    """

    conf_py = os.path.join('docs', 'source', 'conf.py')

    with open(conf_py) as f:
        conf_py_src = f.read()

    # Update the 'copyright_year' string
    year = datetime.now().year
    conf_py_src = re.sub(r"^copyright_year\s*=\s*'[^']+'",
                         'copyright_year = %r' % str(year), conf_py_src,
                         flags=re.M)

    # Update the 'authors' list
    if authors is not None:
        authors_list = ('authors = [\n    ' +
                        ',\n    '.join(repr(a) for a in authors) + '\n]')
        conf_py_src = re.sub(r'^authors\s*=\s*\[[^]]+\]$', authors_list,
                             conf_py_src, flags=re.M)

    # Update the version and release variables (for PyFITS we always just set
    # these to the same)
    if new_version is not None:
        conf_py_src = re.sub(r"^(version|release)\s*=\s*'[^']+'",
                             r"\1 = %r" % new_version, conf_py_src, flags=re.M)

    with open(conf_py, 'w') as f:
        f.write(conf_py_src)
dataset/ETHPy150Open spacetelescope/PyFITS/pyfits/_release.py/update_docs_config/original