core/src/main/java/com/twitter/elephantbird/util/HadoopUtils.java
@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
  public static List<String> readStringListFromConfAsBase64(String key, Configuration conf) {
    String b64List = conf.get(key);
    if (b64List == null) {
      return null;
    }

    List<String> strings = Lists.newArrayList();

    for (String b64 : COMMA_SPLITTER.split(b64List)) {
      byte[] bytes = Base64.decodeBase64(b64.getBytes(Charsets.UTF_8));
      strings.add(new String(bytes, Charsets.UTF_8));
    }

    return strings;
  }
@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
  public static List<String> readStringListFromConfAsBase64(String key, Configuration conf) {
    String b64List = conf.get(key);
    if (b64List == null) {
      return null;
    }

    List<String> strings = Lists.newArrayList();

    for (String b64 : COMMA_SPLITTER.split(b64List)) {
      byte[] bytes = Base64.decodeBase64(b64.getBytes(Charsets.UTF_8));
      strings.add(new String(bytes, Charsets.UTF_8));
    }

    return strings;
  }
Reads a list of strings stored as comma separated base64

@param key for the configuration
@param conf to read from
@return the read list of strings, or null if key is not present in conf