Auto detect internal/external development environment

Question

We use the following function to auto detect if we are on a machine internally or on a live server and then choose the appropriate configs for various components:

Answer 1

Of course, if you have use virtual host locally like example.com then the function will be tricked.

Also if the host is not local but uses a widlcard or default vhost defn and the user adds the IP address to the hosts file locally.

I would recommend having a directory on the include path which also exists on live but is not replicated there - and simply store:

function getEnv(){
  return 'Live';
}

or

function getEnv(){
  return 'Test';
}

If both envs are on the same server - you can still do this by setting the include_path in Apache config or .htaccess.

This also allows you to seperate potentially sensitive env specific data - like database hosts/passwords and encyption keys.

C.