A method for configuring a real or virtual electronic control unit, wherein a control unit software is executed on the control unit, and the control unit software comprises a basic software layer, the basic software layer is configured by a module configuration file by setting values of parameters, the scope of the configurable parameters being defined in a first module definition file which contains the identifiers of the configurable parameters. The first module definition file is replaced by a second module definition file, and a conversion of the first module configuration file into a second module configuration file takes place.