How to manage local vs production settings in Django?

In settings.py:

try:
    from local_settings import *
except ImportError as e:
    pass

You can override what needed in local_settings.py; it should stay out of your version control then. But since you mention copying I'm guessing you use none ;)

Instead of settings.py, use this layout:

.
└── settings/
    ├── __init__.py  <= not versioned
    ├── common.py
    ├── dev.py
    └── prod.py

common.py is where most of your configuration lives.

prod.py imports everything from common, and overrides whatever it needs to override:

from __future__ import absolute_import # optional, but I like it
from .common import *

# Production overrides
DEBUG = False
#...

Similarly, dev.py imports everything from common.py and overrides whatever it needs to override.

Finally, __init__.py is where you decide which settings to load, and it's also where you store secrets (therefore this file should not be versioned):

from __future__ import absolute_import
from .prod import *  # or .dev if you want dev

##### DJANGO SECRETS
SECRET_KEY = '(3gd6shenud@&57...'
DATABASES['default']['PASSWORD'] = 'f9kGH...'

##### OTHER SECRETS
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = "h50fH..."

What I like about this solution is:

1. Everything is in your versioning system, except secrets
2. Most configuration is in one place: common.py.
3. Prod-specific things go in prod.py, dev-specific things go in dev.py. It's simple.
4. You can override stuff from common.py in prod.py or dev.py, and you can override anything in __init__.py.
5. It's straightforward python. No re-import hacks.

Two Scoops of Django: Best Practices for Django 1.5 suggests using version control for your settings files and storing the files in a separate directory:

project/
    app1/
    app2/
    project/
        __init__.py
        settings/
            __init__.py
            base.py
            local.py
            production.py
    manage.py

The base.py file contains common settings (such as MEDIA_ROOT or ADMIN), while local.py and production.py have site-specific settings:

In the base file settings/base.py:

INSTALLED_APPS = (
    # common apps...
)

In the local development settings file settings/local.py:

from project.settings.base import *

DEBUG = True
INSTALLED_APPS += (
    'debug_toolbar', # and other apps for local development
)

In the file production settings file settings/production.py:

from project.settings.base import *

DEBUG = False
INSTALLED_APPS += (
    # other apps for production site
)

Then when you run django, you add the --settings option:

# Running django for local development
$ ./manage.py runserver 0:8000 --settings=project.settings.local

# Running django shell on the production site
$ ./manage.py shell --settings=project.settings.production

The authors of the book have also put up a sample project layout template on Github.