KeyError : APP_SETTINGS
There isn't a way to readily set environment variables in the startup environment for Apache. You would normally set them from the WSGI script file explicitly, or indirectly by having them in some separate file and have the WSGI script file read that and set them for you based on what was set in that separate file. The use of a separate file is where you don't want information in your code repo. That separate file could be under /etc/ or elsewhere and only exists on the system you are deploying to.