settings.md

Creating A Modular settings.py File

• To allow per-host modification to your settings.py file, we will use the following structure to store your settings:

        - MyProject/
            - myproject/
                - settings.py
                - base_settings.py
                - local_settings.py  # DO NOT ADD TO GIT!
  

• To switch to this structure:

  • Add to MyProject/.gitignore the line local_settings.py to prevent git from adding it to the repo.

  • Rename your current myproject/settings.py to myproject/base_settings.py .

  • Create a new myproject/settings.py file with the following content:

    from .base_settings import *
    from .local_settings import *

  • Create a new local_settings.py file with the follwoing content:

    DEBUG = True
    EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.console.EmailBackend'

    Remember: Don't add local_settings.py to git!

  • In base_settings.py:

    • Change DEBUG = True to DEBUG = False.
    • Move the line strating with SECRET_KEY = to the end of local_settings.py .

Make sure your project still runs OK :-)

Tips for maintaining settings files.

• Generally, try keeping all settings in your base_settings.py file.
• If different settings are needed for production and dev, keep the production value as a default in base_settings and override locally in local_settings.py.
• Secret/Security related settings should be kept out of git. They can either be stored on a local_settings.py file on the server or injected via environment variables.