This PR fixes a panic that occurs during Semaphore startup when database configuration contains string representations of arrays that need to be converted to slice types.

Problem

When upgrading from v2.15.0 to v2.16.10, users with certain database configurations would encounter a panic during startup. The issue occurred when the database contained configuration values stored as string representations of JSON arrays (e.g., ["-u semaphore -b"]) that needed to be assigned to slice fields in the configuration struct.

The CastValueToKind function in util/config.go only handled basic types (string, int, bool) but did not support converting string representations of arrays to actual Go slices, causing the application to fail during configuration loading.

Root Cause

The CastValueToKind function lacked support for reflect.Slice type conversion. When database configuration contained values like:

• key: apps.ansible.args
• value: ["-u semaphore -b"] (stored as string)

The function could not convert this string representation to the expected []string type, resulting in a panic.

Solution

Extended the CastValueToKind function to handle slice type conversion by adding JSON parsing support:

case reflect.Slice:
 // Handle string representations of slices, e.g., `["-u semaphore -b"]`
 if str, isString := value.(string); isString {
 var arr []string
 err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(str), &arr)
 if err == nil {
 res = arr
 ok = true
 }
 }

Result

Before: Application panics during startup when encountering string representations of arrays in database configuration.

After: Application gracefully converts string representations like ["-u semaphore -b"] to proper Go slices ([]string{""-u semaphore -b"}), allowing normal startup to continue.

This fix ensures backward compatibility with existing database configurations while properly handling type conversions that may occur during database migrations or manual configuration changes.

Fixes #3203.

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