Issue
I am trying to create a duplicate of an original django project, but with a different secret key, database, etc. Currently, I am just copying and pasting the original project, and then deleting the manage.py file in the new file. After that, I start a new project in the file. Then, I copy the settings as well as the urls from the original project into the new project. Since I want to keep all of my pip installments, I am not going to create a new virtual env, but just copy and paste the original one from the old project(hence creating a new env with the pip installments). I am not sure if this method is okay when creating a new version of the original project. My project seems to work fine after duplicating it, but I am a little worried that there might be a security issue when deploying it, or some part of the new project may not work properly. I hope you guys could tell me if this method is okay, and if there are any better methods. Since I am a beginner, if possible, I would like to stick to this method if it is okay, instead of writing a bunch of code to duplicate my original project. Thanks a lot!
Solution
It's perfectly fine to copy a Django project. However, there's no need to mess with manage.py. What you should be editing is settings.py. Here, you'll change your database access parameters, secret key, and all the other settings. Personally, I go a step further and set these from a .env file. Then the only thing I need to worry about when duplicating a project is the .env file.
I would not recommend copying virtual environments, that's asking for headaches. Instead, use a requirements.txt file. This is a simple text file with a list of libraries to be installed. You can create one by simply doing
pip freeze > requirements.txt
in your current project. Check this one into your source control – and spin up the new environment in the new project with
pip install -r requirements.txt
Always remember to keep api keys, passwords, and other secrets out of source control.
Answered By - John Kealy Answer Checked By - Terry (WPSolving Volunteer)
