Skip to content

Update README.md - verifying Environmental Variable usage #11

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Open
ahillelt wants to merge 1 commit into
base: main
Choose a base branch
from
Open

Update README.md - verifying Environmental Variable usage #11

Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
1 commit
Select commit
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
7 changes: 4 additions & 3 deletions README.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -176,18 +176,19 @@ If you take a look at `GiftcardSite/settings.py`, you will notice a variable cal
This value should be kept secret and not hard coded.
Unfortunately, we don't have access to an HSM. So, you will do the following:

* Rather than hard-coding the `SECRET_KEY`, you will use a GitHub secret.
* Rather than hard-coding the `SECRET_KEY`, you will use a GitHub secret.

* Use [GitHub repository secrets](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/security-guides/using-secrets-in-github-actions) to store the `SECRET_KEY` value.
This ensures that the value of `SECRET_KEY` is populated and safe from any hackers prowling GitHub for credentials.

* Modify your `settings.py` to retrieve the `SECRET_KEY` from GitHub secrets. You'll need to research how to access GitHub secrets in your Django settings.

* Update your GitHub Actions workflow to use this secret when running tests or deployments.

* For local development, you can use a `.env` file to store your `SECRET_KEY`, but **DO NOT COMMIT THIS FILE**.
Otherwise, there was no point in moving the hardcoded variable to a secret.

Test/Verify you are able to use .env files before using with your database encryption solution. Know how to retrieve a variable and store a environment variable. Think Unit Testing and Integration Testing!

* The Gradescope autograder will automatically handle the `SECRET_KEY` for grading purposes, so you don't need to worry about setting it up there.

Using GitHub secrets simulates real-world practices for managing sensitive information in production environments. This approach keeps your secret secure and separate from your codebase.
Expand Down