Storing the secrets (passwords) in a separate file
I think storing credentials inside another *py file is your safest bet. Then just import it. Example would look like this
config.py
username = "xy"password = "abcd"
main.py
import configlogin(config.username, config.password)
I was dealing exactly the same question and actually ended up with the same solution as kecer suggested. Since I need to use it in dozens of scripts, I've created own library. Let me share this solution with you.
credlib.py -- universal library to handle credentials
class credential: def __init__(self, hostname, username, password): self.hostname = hostname self.username = username self.password = password
mycredentials.py -- my local file to store all credentials
from credlib import credentialsys_prod = credential("srv01", "user", "pass")sys_stg = credential("srv02", "user", "pass")sys_db = credential("db01", "userdb", "passdb")
mysystemlib.py -- this is a general library to access my system (both new credential system and legacy is supported)
from credlib import credentialdef system_login(*args): # this is new function definition#def system_login(hostname, username, password): # this was previous function definition if len(args) == 1 and isinstance(args[0], credential): hostname = args[0].hostname username = args[0].username password = args[0].password elif len(args) == 3: hostname = args[0] username = args[1] password = args[2] else: raise ValueError('Invalid arguments') do_login(hostname, username, password) # this is original system login call
main.py -- main script that combines credentials and system libs
from mycredentials import sys_stg, sys_dbimport mysystemlib...mysystemlib.system_login(sys_stg)
Please note that the legacy hostname/username/password way still works so it does not affect old scripts:
mysystemlib.system_login("srv02", "user", "pass")
This has a lot benefits:
- same credential system across all our python scripts
- files with passwords are separated (files can have more strict permissions)
- files are not stored in our git repositories (excluded via
.gitignore
) so that our python scripts/libs can be shared with others without exposing credentials (everyone defines their own credentials in their local files) - if a password needs to be changed, we do it at a single place only
Personally I prefer to use yaml files, with the pyyaml library.Documentation here: https://pyyaml.org/wiki/PyYAMLDocumentation
Creating a .gitignore
rule is very quick and painless and there is zero chances of making a mistake. You can added the rule with echo on Linux / UNIX like system with:
echo -e '*.yaml\n*.yml' >> .gitignore
Below is an example of retrieving the settings from a settings .yaml file in the same folder / location of the reader.
Code Snippets:
#!/usr/bin/env python3import yamlfrom pathlib import Pathdef get_settings(): full_file_path = Path(__file__).parent.joinpath('settings.yaml') with open(full_file_path) as settings: settings_data = yaml.load(settings, Loader=yaml.Loader) return settings_data