Management Commands

YAMLCONF includes three management commands (django_yamlconf needs to be added to the INSTALLED_APPS to add these commands):

  • ycexplain: explain where an attribute value was defined
  • yclist: list the attribute values defined via YAMLCONF
  • ycsysfiles: Create system control files based on attribute controlled template files

The attributes available to the management commands can be extended using methods returning dictionaries of values. The method names can be defined in the settings file or via a YAMLCONF file via the attribute YAMLCONF_ATTRIBUTE_FUNCTIONS, e.g.,

YAMLCONF_ATTRIBUTE_FUNCTIONS:
  - 'health_checks.ycattrs.attributes'

As can be seen from the example method above, these additional attibutes are primarily used with the ycsysfiles command.

ycexplain Command

This ycexplain gives information on the value defined by the set of YAML files loaded for an application along with any documentation and information on eclipsed attribute values lower in the directory tree structure. For example, for the DEBUG attribute:

$ python manage.py ycexplain DEBUG
---------------------------
DEBUG = "False" (via "/u/mrohan/clients/xmpl/buildaudit.yaml")

Documentation:
    Enable or disable debugging functionality.  On the production
    server this attribute should be set to false

Eclipsed values:
    "True" via "/u/mrohan/clients/xmpl/buildaudit/buildaudit.yaml"
    "True" via "buildaudit.settings"

yclist Command

The yclist command simply lists the attributes defined via YAML files, e.g.,:

$ python manage.py yclist
Listing YAMLCONF managed attributes

ALLOWED_HOSTS                   ['localhost']
BACKUP_CONFIG.directory         {BASE_DIR}/backup
BASE_DIR                        /home/mrohan/clients/osstp-yc/webapps
CONTROL_FILE                    {WEBAPPS_DIR}/osstpmgt.yaml
DATABASES.default.CONN_MAX_AGE  600
DATABASES.default.HOST          {DBHOST}
DATABASES.default.NAME          {DBNAME}
DATABASES.default.PASSWORD      {DBPASSWORD}
DATABASES.default.USER          {DBUSER}
DBHOST                          localhost
DBNAME                          osstp
DBPASSWORD                      A-Password
DBUSER                          osstp
INSTALL_DIR                     /var/oss/osstp
MANAGE_PY                       {WEBAPPS_DIR}/manage.py
OS_MACHINE                      x86_64
OS_NODE                         mrohan-osstp-yc
OS_PROCESSOR                    x86_64
OS_RELEASE                      4.4.0-101-generic
OS_SYSTEM                       Linux
ROOT_URL                        https://{SERVER_NAME}
SCM_ID                          v2017.07.13-103-gfac514b
SERVER_NAME                     localhost
TOP_DIR                         /home/mrohan/clients/osstp-yc
USER                            mrohan
VIRTUAL_ENV                     /home/mrohan/clients/venv
WEBAPPS_DIR                     {BASE_DIR}
YAMLCONF_SYSFILES_DIR           {BASE_DIR}/osstpmgt/templates/sys

Use "ycexplain" for more information on individual attributes

ycsysfiles Command

The ycsysfiles management command supports the creation of system control files, e.g., Apache configuration files, based on the attributes defined via YAMLCONF files. The command scans the directory defined by by the attribute, e.g.,:

YAMLCONF_SYSFILES_DIR: '{BASE_DIR}/templates/sys'

for each file found, it

  1. Maps it to a file system path by stripping the YAMLCONF_SYSFILES_DIR prefix and expanding attribute references (yes, that paths under this directory will contain { and } characters).
  2. If the mapped file exists and is writable to the user running the ycsysfiles command, it is updated with the contents generated by Django template engine with YAMLCONF defined attributes being available for substitution in the templates or use for conditionals.

For example, the Django tutorial implementations under the examples directory contains, within the mysite/templates/sys directory, the template files:

  1. etc/apache2/sites-available/mysite.conf, this template would be used to create the system file /etc/apache2/sites-available/mysite.conf (the Apache site config file on an Ubuntu system).
  2. {BASE_DIR}/sysfiles.txt, this template would be used to create the file sysfiles.txt relative the directory where the Django application is installed. E.g., if installed in /var/mysite, the file /var/mysite/sysfiles.txt would be created.

The paths under the YAMLCONF_SYSFILES_DIR directory can reference YAMLCONF defined attributes via standard Python key based format references, as with BASE_DIR above.

The attributes available can be extended using the YAMLCONF_ATTRIBUTE_FUNCTIONS attribtue. This makes attributes based on, e.g., the contents of the Django application database available when processing files. A contrived example would be, in a ycattrs.py file (conventionally in the same directory as the settings.py file):

def userlist():
    return {
        'USERS': User.objects.all(),
    }