[sujeetsr]

Ok I'm confused by 'environment variable' vs files. How does one set an environment variable without putting it in a file on the particular server. Or by 'file' in this article (and the 12 factor one) do they mean a file that in source control?

[michaelbuckbee]

The article means 'file in source control' - the specific context is that the author is one of the co-founders of Heroku where there is a whole separate (really nice) system for handling 'config variables' as part of your app deployments separate from source control.

[thinkbohemian]

You can also run foreman if you're not on Heroku. Put your environment variables in a `.env` file. The environment variables get sourced only to the environment of that process and not to the __whole__ system

[sujeetsr]

Ah I see..thanks!