The default settings.py I use in all my Django 1.2 and 1.3 projects. It already depends on Django South and the Django Debug Toolbar. It doesn't use the new static media handling of Django 1.3. This file is inspired by Martin Mahner. (http://www.mahner.or

settings.py

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

import os

PROJECT_ROOT                = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
PROJECT_NAME                = os.path.split(PROJECT_ROOT)[-1]

# -- DEBUG -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DEBUG                       = True
TEMPLATE_DEBUG              = DEBUG
INTERNAL_IPS                = ()

# -- E-Mail & Error Notification -------------------------------------------------------------------

ADMINS                      = (
                              # ('Your Name', 'your_email@example.com'),
)

MANAGERS                    = ADMINS

DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL          = 'from-mail@example.com'
SERVER_EMAIL                = 'error-notify@example.com'

EMAIL_SUBJECT_PREFIX        = '[%s] ' % PROJECT_NAME
EMAIL_HOST                  = 'localhost'
EMAIL_PORT                  = 25
EMAIL_HOST_USER             = ''
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD         = ''
EMAIL_USE_TLS               = False

# -- AUTHENTICATION --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LOGIN_URL                   = '/login/'
LOGOUT_URL                  = '/logout/'
LOGIN_REDIRECT_URL          = '/'

# -- I18N & URLS -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIME_ZONE                   = 'Europe/Berlin'
LANGUAGE_CODE               = 'en'
LANGUAGES                   = (('en', 'English'), ('de', 'German'))
USE_I18N                    = True

SITE_ID                     = 1

MEDIA_ROOT                  = os.path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, 'media')
MEDIA_URL                   = '/media/'
ADMIN_MEDIA_PREFIX          = '/media/admin/'

ROOT_URLCONF                = '%s.urls' % PROJECT_NAME

# -- DATABASE --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE':   'django.db.backends.mysql', 
        'NAME':     PROJECT_NAME,
        'USER':     'root',
        'PASSWORD': '',
        'HOST':     '',
        'PORT':     '',
        'OPTIONS':  { 'init_command': 'SET storage_engine=INNODB', }
    }
}

# -- APPLICATIONS & MIDDLEWARES --------------------------------------------------------------------

INSTALLED_APPS = (
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.sites',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'debug_toolbar',
    'south',
)

MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = (
    'django.middleware.gzip.GZipMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
)

TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS = (
    'django.core.context_processors.auth',
    'django.core.context_processors.debug',
    'django.core.context_processors.i18n',
    'django.core.context_processors.media',
    'django.core.context_processors.request',
)

TEMPLATE_DIRS = (
    os.path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, 'templates'),
)

TEMPLATE_LOADERS = (
    'django.template.loaders.filesystem.Loader',
    'django.template.loaders.app_directories.Loader',
)

if not DEBUG:
    TEMPLATE_LOADERS = (
        ('django.template.loaders.cached.Loader', (
            'django.template.loaders.filesystem.Loader',
            'django.template.loaders.app_directories.Loader',
        )),        
    )
    
# -- SECRET KEY ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    

try:
    SECRET_KEY
except NameError:
    SECRET_FILE = os.path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, 'secret.txt')
    try:
        SECRET_KEY = open(SECRET_FILE).read().strip()
    except IOError:
        try:
            from random import choice
            SECRET_KEY = ''.join(
                [choice('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789!@#$%^&*(-_=+)') for i in range(50)])
            secret = file(SECRET_FILE, 'w')
            secret.write(SECRET_KEY)
            secret.close()
        except IOError:
            Exception('Please create a %s file with random characters to generate your secret key!' % 
                      SECRET_FILE)

# -- LOCAL SETTINGS --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

try:
    from settings_local import *
except ImportError:
    pass