NANVEL

[Django] Where to store host specific variables

1. settings/local.py

myproject/
    - settings/
        - __init__.py
        - default.py
        - local.py

__init__.py:

from .default import *


try:
    from .local import *
except ImportError:
    import logging
    logger = logging.get_logger(__name__)
    logger.error("settings/local.py was not found!")

local.py shouldn't be under git index.

Useful practice to add few patterns of local.py for different hosts:

  • settings/local.py.development
  • settings/local.py.staging
  • settings/local.py.production

Keep in mind, don't store sensitive information in files under git index.

2. ~/.bashrc

Unix shell, when starting, reads .bashrc file and executes commands it contains. First, reads file /etc/.bashrc and next - ~/.bashrc. My .bashrc on dev laptop looks like:

export VIRTUALENV_DISTRIBUTE=true
export PIP_REQUIRE_VIRTUALENV=true
export PIP_DOWNLOAD_CACHE=$HOME/.pip/cache
export SOME_VAR=someval

To make SOME_VAR available in django.conf.settings:

# settings.py
from sys import environ

...

SOME_VAR = getattr(environ, 'SOME_VAR', <default value>)

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