Some (maybe hackish) approach to generate SECRET_KEY on first run

automatic_secret_key_generation.py

# Put this code in your settings file
# Saves new secret key to secret.key file in same folder as your settings

import logging

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

## Secret key generation functions
secret_key_fn = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'secret.key')


def create_secret_key():
    import random
    import string

    return ''.join(
        [random.SystemRandom().choice(string.printable) for i in range(50)]
    )


def create_secret_key_file(secret_key):
    with open(secret_key_fn, 'w') as f:
        f.write(secret_key)
    return secret_key


def load_secret_key_file():
    with open(secret_key_fn, 'r') as f:
        # Read one byte more to check content length
        skey = f.read(51)
        if len(skey) != 50:
            # We probably could just replace file with a new generated key,
            # but it's safer to let the user handle it
            raise ValueError('Content of secret_key file is wrong')
        return skey

if os.path.exists(secret_key_fn):
    logger.info('Load secret key from file')
    SECRET_KEY = load_secret_key_file()
else:
    logger.warning('Unable to import SECRET_KEY generating a new one')
    SECRET_KEY = create_secret_key_file(create_secret_key())