I've recently been introduced to `django-environ`, a similar library that has additional features to DB connect URLs that we may want to consider: https://github.com/joke2k/django-environ
It has the same issue with third party DB engines; for example, I recently issued a PR to include `pyodbc` as an option. It has some nice newcomer friendly features, such as a cleaner way of determining BASE_URL / SITE_ROOT. Have a look at the URL for a good "before" and "after" settings file example. Having full support for .env files would make Django projects easier to bring in line with 12-factor. Regards, Tim On Saturday, May 27, 2017 at 3:52:23 PM UTC-4, Tom Forbes wrote: > > Edit: DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE isn't relative, it will import any arbitrary > module you give it. If we accept that then I think we are accepting the > risk of imports via an attacker controlling environment variables whilst > Django starts up? > > On Sat, May 27, 2017 at 8:49 PM, Tom Forbes <t...@tomforb.es <javascript:> > > wrote: > >> > I'm wary of possible security ramifications: if we do this, changing a >> configuration value will import an arbitrary module, which could make it >> easier to run arbitrary code in some scenarios. I don't have a clear threat >> model in mind here, though. >> >> Good point, it's not wise to enable this even without a clear threat >> model. Django does import the settings based on an environment variable, >> but it's relative and if you can use that to do anything nasty then you're >> most likely already through the airtight hatch (so to speak). However >> importing potentially global modules could be bad news. >> >> Ignoring it is always an option, but could we not specify that the third >> party database provider has to be in the `INSTALLED_APPS`? That could >> provide some form of whitelisting so not any old module is imported. Not >> sure about any issues that may arise from this though. >> >> > One possibility would be to use entrypoints in setuptools, this way 3rd >> party backends could specify a name which then has a fixed & verified >> import path. >> >> This seems like it could get complex, and be quite unlike anything else >> in Django. >> >> Perhaps just supporting this for first-party database backends is easiest? >> >> On Thu, May 25, 2017 at 8:46 AM, Aymeric Augustin < >> aymeric....@polytechnique.org <javascript:>> wrote: >> >>> Hello, >>> >>> I'm wondering what the exact definition of the URL format is. Is it >>> specified somewhere? Or is it just: >>> >>> [engine]://[username]:[password]@[host]:[port]/[name] >>> >>> where we create arbitrary [engine] values in an ad-hoc fashion? >>> >>> On 24 May 2017, at 21:21, Tom Forbes <t...@tomforb.es <javascript:>> >>> wrote: >>> >>> My two cents: connection strings/database URI's are a feature I've >>> sorely missed in Django. >>> >>> Built-in functionality to convert environment variables like >>> DJANGO_DB_DEFAULT (or more generally DJANGO_DB_*key*) into the relevant >>> DATABASE setting would make some deployment situations a lot simpler. >>> Currently, unless you use dj-database-uri you have to define a bunch of >>> ad-hoc DB_USER/DB_PASSWORD etc env variables and price the dictionary >>> together yourself. >>> >>> >>> Fully agreed. While relatively minor, it's an annoyance. >>> >>> How does this library complex keys like OPTIONS, TEST or DEPENDENCIES? >>> >>> >>> I don't think it's reasonable to cram them in a URL. >>> >>> dj-database-url allows passing options as extra keyword arguments. Other >>> values should be explicitly added in the settings module, by updating the >>> dict generated from the URL. >>> >>> To help support third part backends: perhaps the scheme portion of the >>> URI could be either a relative import from django.db.backends or an >>> absolute import to a third party library? It seems URI schemes can have >>> dots and underscores in them, so they can be python package paths. >>> >>> I.e sqlite3://xyz would resolve go django.db.backends.sqlite3, but >>> sqlserver_ado://xyz would resolve to the third party django-mssql engine >>> via an absolute import. >>> >>> >>> I'm wary of possible security ramifications: if we do this, changing a >>> configuration value will import an arbitrary module, which could make it >>> easier to run arbitrary code in some scenarios. I don't have a clear threat >>> model in mind here, though. >>> >>> I'd rather specify the database engine explicitly when calling >>> dj-database-url if it's a third-party engine. There's an open question >>> about what to do with the [engine] part of the URL in that case. Ignoring >>> it entirely is the easiest. >>> >>> Best regards, >>> >>> -- >>> Aymeric. >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "Django developers (Contributions to Django itself)" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to django-develop...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>. >>> To post to this group, send email to django-d...@googlegroups.com >>> <javascript:>. >>> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/django-developers. >>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/django-developers/A0870D90-75DE-496B-A838-AC7D7488A67D%40polytechnique.org >>> >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/django-developers/A0870D90-75DE-496B-A838-AC7D7488A67D%40polytechnique.org?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>> >> >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Django developers (Contributions to Django itself)" group. 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