django testing with local settings

Question

Python 2.7 Django 1.2

I am getting odd local_settings behavior when I am testing a Django app. I have my /settings.py set up like this:<

Answer 1

I recall reading that you're not supposed to change settings values in any way at runtime, it causes problems.

Answer 2

Use --settings option when running tests

python manage.py test --settings=mysite.settings_local

Answer 3

This is an intentional choice within Django:

Regardless of the value of the DEBUG setting in your configuration file, all Django tests run with DEBUG=False. This is to ensure that the observed output of your code matches what will be seen in a production setting.

Ref: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/testing/#other-test-conditions