Re: [Django] #35400: SECRET_KEY_FALLBACKS documentation can be misleading when running multiple instances of an application

[Django]

#35400: SECRET_KEY_FALLBACKS documentation can be misleading when running multiple
instances of an application
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Reporter: Ryan Siemens | Owner: nobody
Type: | Status: closed
Cleanup/optimization |
Component: Documentation | Version: 5.0
Severity: Normal | Resolution: invalid
Keywords: | Triage Stage:
SECRET_KEY_FALLBACKS | Unreviewed
Has patch: 0 | Needs documentation: 0
Needs tests: 0 | Patch needs improvement: 0
Easy pickings: 1 | UI/UX: 0
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Changes (by Sarah Boyce):

* resolution: => invalid
* status: new => closed

Comment:

Hi Ryan, thank you for this ticket I've been thinking about it quite a
while.

​I think the docs specifically on
[https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/settings/#secret-key-fallbacks
SECRET_KEY_FALLBACKS] is clear enough in terms of what the setting is and
what Django uses it for.

> My request is to update the documentation to at least indicate that the
advice doesn't hold in scenarios where you are running the application
across a fleet of boxes.

I was trying to find existing warnings giving extra considerations that
depend on a user's infrastructure and deployments. In general, the docs
seem to assume a single-node deployment and rather than considering
distributed environments. For example, there isn't an explicit warning in
the docs around how adding a NOT NULL column on a model can lock up a
table and cause deadlocks with a running application.

I could see a new topic for "Deployment considerations for distributed
systems" (or something along those lines within the existing Deployment
docs) being valuable. This is quite different from what you were
suggesting originally, and quite a bit of work. I would also recommend
anyone wanting to write this to first go to the
[https://forum.djangoproject.com/c/internals/5 forum] to plan the outline
and content.

For these reasons I'm going to close this ticket as "invalid" but I
welcome more discussion. I'm also very happy to read suggested
documentation wording tweaks.
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Ticket URL: <https://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/35400#comment:2>
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