Add Whitenoise and improve README

Fixes: #548

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 - Add admin action to log in as any user
 - Add a "Manager" role (#484)
 - Add support for 2FA using TOTP (#354)
+- Add Whitenoise (#548)
 
 ### Bug Fixes
 - Fix dark mode styling issues in Cron Syntax Cheatsheet

README.md

@@ -387,30 +387,36 @@ Here is a non-exhaustive list of pointers and things to check before launching a
 in production.
 
 * Environment variables, settings.py and local_settings.py.
-  * [DEBUG](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/ref/settings/#debug). Make sure it is set to `False`.
-  * [ALLOWED_HOSTS](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/ref/settings/#allowed-hosts). Make sure it
-    contains the correct domain name you want to use.
-  * Server Errors. When DEBUG=False, Django will not show detailed error pages, and will not print exception
-    tracebacks to standard output. To receive exception tracebacks in email,
-    review and edit the [ADMINS](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/ref/settings/#admins) and
-    [SERVER_EMAIL](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/ref/settings/#server-email) settings.
-    Another good option for receiving exception tracebacks is to use [Sentry](https://sentry.io/for/django/).
+  * [DEBUG](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/ref/settings/#debug). Make sure it is
+    set to `False`.
+  * [ALLOWED_HOSTS](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/ref/settings/#allowed-hosts).
+    Make sure it contains the correct domain name you want to use.
+  * Server Errors. When DEBUG=False, Django will not show detailed error pages, and
+    will not print exception tracebacks to standard output. To receive exception
+    tracebacks in email, review and edit the
+    [ADMINS](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/ref/settings/#admins) and
+    [SERVER_EMAIL](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/ref/settings/#server-email)
+    settings. Consider setting up exception logging with [Sentry](https://sentry.io/for/django/).
 * Management commands that need to be run during each deployment.
-  * This project uses [Django Compressor](https://django-compressor.readthedocs.io/en/stable/)
-    to combine the CSS and JS files. It is configured for offline compression – run the
-    `manage.py compress` command whenever files in the `/static/` directory change.
-  * This project uses Django's [staticfiles app](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/ref/contrib/staticfiles/).
-    Run the `manage.py collectstatic` command whenever files in the `/static/`
-    directory change. This command collects all the static files inside the `static-collected` directory.
-    Configure your web server to serve files from this directory under the `/static/` prefix.
-  * Database migration should be run after each update to make sure the database schemas are up to date. You can do that with `./manage.py migrate`.
+  * `manage.py compress` – creates combined JS and CSS bundles and
+     places them in the `static-collected` directory.
+  * `manage.py collectstatic` – collects static files in the `static-collected`
+     directory.
+  * `manage.py migrate` – applies any pending database schema changes
+     and data migrations.
 * Processes that need to be running constantly.
-  * `manage.py runserver` is intended for development only. Do not use it in production,
-    instead consider using [uWSGI](https://uwsgi-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) or
-    [gunicorn](https://gunicorn.org/).
-  * Make sure the `manage.py sendalerts` command is running and can survive server restarts.
-    On modern linux systems, a good option is to
-    [define a systemd service](https://github.com/healthchecks/healthchecks/issues/273#issuecomment-520560304) for it.
+  * `manage.py runserver` is intended for development only.
+     **Do not use it in production**, instead consider using
+     [uWSGI](https://uwsgi-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) or
+     [gunicorn](https://gunicorn.org/).
+  *  `manage.py sendalerts` is the process that monitors checks and sends out
+     monitoring alerts. It must be always running, it must be started on reboot, and it
+     must be restarted if it itself crashes. On modern linux systems, a good option is
+     to [define a systemd service](https://github.com/healthchecks/healthchecks/issues/273#issuecomment-520560304)
+     for it.
+* Static files. Healthchecks serves static files on its own, no configuration
+  required. It uses the [Whitenoise library](http://whitenoise.evans.io/en/stable/index.html)
+  for this.
 * General
   * Make sure the database is secured well and is getting backed up regularly
   * Make sure the TLS certificates are secured well and are getting refreshed regularly

docker/uwsgi.ini

@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ chdir = /opt/healthchecks
 module = hc.wsgi:application
 thunder-lock
 disable-write-exception
-static-map = /static=/opt/healthchecks/static-collected
 
 hook-pre-app = exec:./manage.py migrate
 attach-daemon = ./manage.py sendalerts

hc/settings.py

@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ INSTALLED_APPS = (
 
 MIDDLEWARE = (
     "django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware",
+    "whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware",
     "django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware",
     "django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware",
     "django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware",
@@ -171,6 +172,13 @@ STATICFILES_FINDERS = (
 COMPRESS_OFFLINE = True
 COMPRESS_CSS_HASHING_METHOD = "content"
 
+
+def immutable_file_test(path, url):
+    return url.startswith("/static/CACHE/") or url.startswith("/static/fonts/")
+
+
+WHITENOISE_IMMUTABLE_FILE_TEST = immutable_file_test
+
 # SMTP credentials for sending email
 EMAIL_HOST = os.getenv("EMAIL_HOST", "")
 EMAIL_PORT = envint("EMAIL_PORT", "587")

requirements.txt

@@ -9,3 +9,4 @@ pytz==2021.1
 requests==2.26.0
 segno==1.3.3
 statsd==3.3.0
+whitenoise==5.3.0