django import a variable from server specific settings file

Question

I have the following settings structure. The placement of the settings folder is as per autogenerated config. Instead of having a settings.py, I have created a settings folder, and the contents are as below.

local.py is for local machine, and production.py is for production server.

Both local.py and production.py inherit from _base.py .

├── _base.py
├── __init__.py
├── local.py
├── production.py
└── secrets.py

Earlier, there was only one settings file, so I could happily in my views write -

The SOME_VARIABLE is different for production and local.

from settings import SOME_VARIABLE and it worked well.

This is how I validate now - python manage.py validate --settings=settings.local it throws an import error.

ImportError: cannot import name SOME_VARIABLE

Any ways I could go about importing things in my views file, and avoid the import error.

Thanks!

Answer 1

There are a few different patterns for handling settings across different installations. Perhaps simplest for your needs is The One True Way.

If you want to do something a bit more complicated but (in my opinion) better:

• http://bruno.im/2013/may/18/django-stop-writing-settings-files/
• Or http://django-configurations.readthedocs.org/en/latest/
• Or if you're feeling experimental, https://github.com/seddonym/bobsleigh (Disclaimer: this is my project and in very early stages).