Depending on Django version, you will need to pick the correct template

variation - either for your application or for your Django project.

For example, to start a new Django project, using version 1.8 run the command::

  django-admin startproject --template /path/to/majic-django-templates/project-django-1.8/ your_project_name

Currently the following project templates are available:

into base, and per-environment files (whereas stock Django has only one

``settings.py`` configuration file). You can read more about this in the next

section.

Despite having certain differences, all project templates share a common

structure and logic behind separation of settings files.

programatic manipulation of varible defined in base settings file.

- ``settings/testing.py``, used for testing environment.

   The ``settings/testing.py``, ``settings/staging.py``, and

The following are the main items that are set on per-environment basis:

- Usernames.

- Environment-specific FQDNs and hostnames.

- Environment-specific URLs.

The only environment-specific settings that should be excluded from the

above-listed files are secrets and passwords. At the very least, this usually

involves database password, and Django's ``SECRET_KEY`` setting.

These credentials are best stored in a local ``credentials.py`` file, which

should be put into ``settings/`` directory, but excluded from version

control. Credentials file needs to have at minimum the following credentials

(variables) set within:

- ``SECRET_KEY``, which can be generated with the following one-liner::

- ``DATABASE_PASSWORD``, which should hold database password for the environment.

Project template for Django 1.8

-------------------------------

Project template can be found in sub-directory ``project-django-1.8``.

In order to get started with a project using this template, perform the

following steps:

1. Start your project using custom project template::

     django-admin startproject --template /path/to/majic-django-templates/project-django-1.8 myproject

2. Configure database in files ``myproject/myproject/settings/testing.py``,

   ``myproject/myproject/settings/staging.py``, and

   ``myproject/myproject/settings/production.py``.

   .. warning:

      Make sure not to touch database password in any of these files.

3. In order to make your life easier, it is recommended that you modify your

   Python virtual environments (you *are* using ``virtualenv``, aren't you?) to

   reference correct settings file via ``DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE`` environment

   variable. This can be easily done in file ``$VIRTUALENV/bin/postactivate``,

   just add a line (where ``ENVIRONMENT`` is the environment you the virtualenv

   belongs to, for example ``development``)::

     export DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE="myproject.settings.ENVIRONMENT"

   If you do not do this, you will need to be passing --settings to every Django

   command run - which can get very tedious very fast.

Once you create a new project based on this template, in the project's directory

(at the same level as the ``manage.py`` file), a directory called ``settings``

is created instead of ``settings.py.`` Within this directory, the following

files are present:

* ``base.py`` provides a place to define common configuration options that would

  be shared amongst all of the different environments the project is deployed

  in. All of the other environment-specific configuration files will import all

  settings from this one, and build upon them. This is the right place to define

  your project's applications, common application settings, middlewares etc.

* ``sample_credentials.py`` provides an example on how the ``credentials.py``,

  which is environment-specific, should look like in order to be able to run a

  project. This file is mainly used for defining things like database passwords,

  ``SECRET_KEY`` etc (that is any sort of credentials that should not be shared).

* ``development.py`` comes with some additional settings which are well-suited

  for the development environments. This mainly revolves around using the

  ``sqlite3`` database, and enabling debugging.

* ``testing.py`` should be used for deploying the project in a testing

  environment. It should be noted that it is a good idea to have this

  configuration as close to the production one as possible, but the separate

  file is provided for easier customisation for a test environment. Things like

  database settings will probably differ between the two environments. It may

  also be necessary to enable some custom settings in test environment that

  might not be desirable to enable in development environment (for example

  debugging).

* ``production.py`` is used for deploying the project in a production

  environment. You should be very careful not to mess this file up, and make

  sure that things like debugging etc are turned off (unless you really, really

  need it in development environment).

There is very little in special variables used in the listed configuration

files. You can practically specify any Django or Django application

configuration where you wish to. There are only two special variables that are

project template-specific - ``DATABASE_PASSWORDS`` and ``SECRET_KEY``.

The ``SECRET_KEY`` must be specified in the ``credentials.py`` file, and its

syntax and meaning is the same as described in Django documentation.

The ``DATABASE_PASSWORDS`` is a dictionary, where keys are the database names,

and values are the corresponding passwords.

For example, let's say you define two databases for Django in ``production.py``

(in the Django ``DATABASES`` variable). Following the template layout, you would

make it look something similar to::

  .. highlight:: python

     DATABASES = {

         'database1': {

         'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',

         'NAME': 'database1',

         'USER': 'database1_user',

         'PASSWORD': DATABASE_PASSWORDS['database1'],

         'HOST': '127.0.0.1',

         'PORT': '',

         },

         'database2': {

         'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',

         'NAME': 'database2',

         'USER': 'database2_user',

         'PASSWORD': DATABASE_PASSWORDS['database2'],

         'HOST': '127.0.0.1',

         'PORT': '',

         }

    }

Subsequently, when deploying the production environment, you would create the

``credentials.py`` file in the same directory with the following content::

  .. highlight:: python

     DATABASE_PASSWORDS['database1']="database1_password

     DATABASE_PASSWORDS['database2']="database2_password

.. warning:: Make sure that the ``credentials.py`` is never part of your version

             control system history! It is highly recommended to keep this file

             in ``.gitignore``, ``.hgignore``, or whatever the equivalent of

             your version control system is!

In order to run your Django project with different settings, you would use one

of the following commands (depending on which environment you want to run)::

  python manage.py runserver --settings your_project_name.settings.development

  python manage.py runserver --settings your_project_name.settings.testing

  python manage.py runserver --settings your_project_name.settings.production

If using ``virtualenv``, you may want to set the ``DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE``

environment variable in it to make your life easier.