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128 lines
5.4 KiB
Markdown
128 lines
5.4 KiB
Markdown
# Settings system
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The page documents the Zulip settings system, and hopefully should
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help you decide how to correctly implement new settings you're adding
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to Zulip. We have two types of administrative settings in Zulip:
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server settings (which are set via configuration files are apply to
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the whole Zulip installation), and realm settings (which are usually
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set via the /#administration page in the Zulip web application) and
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apply to a single Zulip realm/organization (which for most Zulip
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servers is the only realm on the server).
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## Server settings
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Zulip uses the [Django settings
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system](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.9/topics/settings/), which
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means that the settings files are Python programs that set a lot of
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variables with all-capital names like EMAIL_GATEWAY_PATTERN. You can
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access these anywhere in the Zulip Django code using e.g.:
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```
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from django.conf import settings
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print(settings.EMAIL_GATEWAY_PATTERN)
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```
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Additionally, if you need to access a Django setting in a shell
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script (or just on the command line for debugging), you can use e.g.:
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```
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$ ./scripts/get-django-setting EMAIL_GATEWAY_PATTERN
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%s@localhost:9991
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```
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Zulip has separated those settings that we expect a system
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administrator to change (with nice documentation) from the ~1000 lines
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of settings needed by the Zulip Django app. As a result, there are a
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few files involved in the Zulip settings for server administrations.
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In a production environment, we have:
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* `/etc/zulip/settings.py` (generated from
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`zproject/local_settings_template.py`) is the main system
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administration facing settings file for Zulip. It contains all the
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server-specific settings, such as how to send outgoing email, the
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hostname of the Postgres database, etc., but does not contain any
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secrets (e.g. passwords, secret API keys, cryptographic keys, etc.).
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The way we generally do settings that can be controlled with shell
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access to a Zulip server is to put a default in
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`zproject/settings.py`, and then override it here.
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* `/etc/zulip/zulip-secrets.conf` (generated by
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`scripts/setup/generate-secrets.py` as part of installation)
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contains secrets used by the Zulip installation. These are read
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using the standard Python `ConfigParser`, and accessed in
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`zproject/settings.py` by the `get_secret` function.
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* `zproject/settings.py` is the main Django settings file for Zulip.
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It contains all the settings that are constant for all Zulip
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installations (e.g. configuration for logging, static assets,
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middleware, etc.), as well as default values for the settings the
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user would set in `/etc/zulip/settings.py` (you can look at the
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`DEFAULT_SETTINGS` dictionary to easily review the settings
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available). `zproject/settings.py` has a line `from local_settings
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import *`, which has the effect of importing
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`/etc/zulip/settings.py`.
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In a development environment, we have `zproject/settings.py`, and
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additionally:
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* `zproject/dev_settings.py` has the settings for the Zulip development
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environment; it mostly just imports local_settings_template.py.
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* `zproject/dev-secrets.conf` replaces `/etc/zulip/zulip-secrets.conf`.
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* `zproject/test_settings.py` has the (default) settings used for the
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Zulip tests (both backend and Casper), which are applied on top of
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the development environment settings.
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When adding a new server setting to Zulip, you will typically add it
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in two or three places:
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* In DEFAULT_SETTINGS in `zproject/settings.py`, with a default value
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for production environments.
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* In an appropriate section of `zproject/local_settings_template.py`,
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with documentation in the comments explaining the settings's
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purpose and effect.
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* Possibly also `zproject/dev_settings.py`, if the desired value of
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the setting for Zulip development environments is different from the
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default for production (and similarly for `zproject/test_settings.py`).
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Most settings should be enabled in the development environment, to
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maximize convenience of testing all of Zulip's features; they should
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be enabled by default in production if we expect most Zulip sites to
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want those settings.
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#### Testing non-default settings
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You can write tests for settings using e.g. `with
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self.settings(GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=None)`. However, this only works for
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settings which are checked at runtime, not settings which are only
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accessed in initialization of Django (or Zulip) internals
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(e.g. `DATABASES`). See the [Django docs on overriding settings in
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tests][django-test-settings] for more details.
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[django-test-settings]: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.9/topics/testing/tools/#overriding-settings
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## Realm settings
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Realm settings are preferred for any configuration that is a matter of
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organizational policy (as opposed to technical capabilities of the
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server). As a result, configuration options for user-facing
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functionality is almost always added as a new realm setting, not a
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server setting. The [new feature tutorial][doc-newfeat] documents the
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process for adding a new realm setting to Zulip.
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So for example, the following server settings will eventually be
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replaced with realm settings:
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* NAME_CHANGES_DISABLED
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* INLINE_IMAGE_PREVIEW
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* ENABLE_GRAVATAR
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* Which authentication methods are allowed should probably appear in
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both places; in server settings indicating the capabilities of the
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server, and in the realm settings indicating which methods the realm
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administrator wants to allow users to login with.
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[doc-newfeat]: new-feature-tutorial.html
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