store static files on file system again - do not use S3

oser_backend/aws/backends.py

@@ -7,9 +7,10 @@ directories in the S3 bucket (defined by the 'location' below).
 from storages.backends.s3boto3 import S3Boto3Storage
 
 
-def StaticBackend():
-    """Static storage backend."""
-    return S3Boto3Storage(location='static')
+# uncomment and update aws/conf.py to use for storing static files on AWS
+# def StaticBackend():
+#     """Static storage backend."""
+#     return S3Boto3Storage(location='static')
 
 
 def MediaBackend():

oser_backend/aws/conf.py

@@ -9,7 +9,16 @@ import os
 
 # Use S3 backends
 DEFAULT_FILE_STORAGE = 'aws.backends.MediaBackend'
-STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'aws.backends.StaticBackend'
+# Uncomment to store static files on AWS
+# Beware that Heroku automatically calls 'manage.py collectstatic' for
+# each deployment, and this backend does not support checking for pre-existing
+# static files on AWS : all the static files will be uploaded on each
+# deployment.
+# It can be OK to set DISABLE_COLLECTSTATIC on Heroku, but then
+# you'd have to run collectstatic manually on Heroku when necessary.
+# Since static files on the backend should not change a lot, it seems OK
+# to simply use the default file storage for static files.
+# STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'aws.backends.StaticBackend'
 
 # Credentials
 AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = os.environ.get('AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID')
@@ -32,10 +41,8 @@ AWS_BASE_URL = (
     'https://{bucket}.s3.{region}.amazonaws.com/'
     .format(bucket=AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME, region=AWS_S3_REGION_NAME))
 
-# Redefine media and static URLs to upload/retrieve to/from S3
+# Redefine media URL to upload/retrieve to/from S3
 MEDIA_URL = AWS_BASE_URL + 'media/'
-STATIC_URL = AWS_BASE_URL + 'static/'
 
-# Direct the MEDIA_ROOT and STATIC_ROOT to their bucket directory
+# Direct the MEDIA_ROOT to its bucket directory
 MEDIA_ROOT = 'media'
-STATIC_ROOT = 'static'

oser_backend/oser_backend/settings/dev.py

@@ -148,14 +148,14 @@ MARKDOWNX_MARKDOWN_EXTENSION_CONFIGS = {
 }
 
 # Database
-# Will be retrieved through the DATABASE_URL environment variable
+# Config be retrieved through the DATABASE_URL environment variable
+# DATABASE_URL format: postgres://USERNAME:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT/NAME
 DATABASES = {
     'default': dj_database_url.config(
         default='postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/oser_backend_db'),
 }
 
-# Security: SSL and HTTPS
-# SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT = True  # redirect all to HTTPS
+# Security
 SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE = True
 CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE = True
 SECURE_BROWSER_XSS_FILTER = True
@@ -194,19 +194,20 @@ USE_I18N = True
 USE_L10N = True
 USE_TZ = True
 
-# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
+# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images) and media files (user-uploaded)
 # In development, static and media files are tied to the local filesystem.
+# In production, media files cannot be stored on Heroku and need
+# to be hosted elsewhere (e.g. AWS S3).
 
-# Storage backend (Django's default)
-DEFAULT_FILE_STORAGE = 'django.core.files.storage.FileSystemStorage'
-
-# Static files
+# Static files config
+STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'django.core.files.storage.FileSystemStorage'
 STATIC_URL = '/static/'
 STATICFILES_DIRS = [
     os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'staticfiles'),
 ]
 STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static')
 
-# User-uploaded media files
+# Media files config
+DEFAULT_FILE_STORAGE = 'django.core.files.storage.FileSystemStorage'
 MEDIA_URL = '/media/'
 MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'media')