Most web-app frameworks use an INI file or JSON, etc. In Django, the settings is just a python file with a series of arrays and constants, meaning you can chang

Most web-app frameworks use an INI file or JSON, etc. In Django, the settings is just a python file with a series of arrays and constants, meaning you can change them programmatically (e.g. in response to the server environment, whether you're on production / dev, etc). Remember, an extra call to a database each request isn't very performance-friendly. Your best bet would be to use a JSON/INI/etc (or go down Django's route) and then cache it in memcached or APC or similar.