How to override a FairDM setting#

FairDM gives a portal a complete set of Django settings. You override one when the value FairDM chose does not suit your portal, such as a longer email confirmation period or an extra password validator.

Before you start#

Your portal’s settings module calls fairdm.setup(). Settings lists every setting with its type and default.

Steps#

  1. Find the setting in Settings. Note its type. Where the entry says the value comes from an environment variable, set the variable instead of assigning the setting, and skip to step 5.

  2. Open the settings module that calls fairdm.setup().

  3. Assign the setting after the call, never inside it. setup() accepts no settings as arguments and raises TypeError if you pass one.

    import fairdm

fairdm.setup()

ACCOUNT_EMAIL_CONFIRMATION_EXPIRE_DAYS = 7

  4. For a list or a dictionary, change the value in place so the entries FairDM put there stay.

    # Add a validator of your own to the four FairDM sets
AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS + [
    {"NAME": "my_portal.validators.ContainsDigitValidator"},
]

# Change one entry of a dictionary
REST_KNOX["TOKEN_LIMIT_PER_USER"] = 5

# Add a logger
LOGGING["loggers"]["my_app"] = {"handlers": ["console"], "level": "INFO"}

    Replace a whole list or dictionary only when the entry in Settings says that is safe. REST_FRAMEWORK, SPECTACULAR_SETTINGS and THUMBNAIL_ALIASES hold entries FairDM’s pages need.

  5. Restart the portal and print the value Django uses.

    python manage.py shell -c "from django.conf import settings; print(settings.ACCOUNT_EMAIL_CONFIRMATION_EXPIRE_DAYS)"

The result#

Django uses your value. An assignment after fairdm.setup() is the last layer, so it wins over FairDM’s defaults, over an addon and over your portal’s environment override module.

Some settings are built from others when setup() runs, so changing the source later does not change them. CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS is built from ALLOWED_HOSTS, CELERY_RESULT_BACKEND from CELERY_BROKER_URL and CELERY_TIMEZONE from DJANGO_TIME_ZONE. The entry for each setting says which variable to set. To give a setting a different value in one environment only, use an environment override module and not an if in the settings module.

python manage.py show_config SETTING does not see an assignment made after setup(). It reports the layer that set the value before your assignment. Configuration explains. For why assignment is the only route, see How FairDM configures a portal.