[FINERACT-1092] Technical System Parameters should be able to be specfified via environment variables instead of by REST API & DB

• Type: New Feature
• Status: Open
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Unresolved
• Labels: technical
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Michael Vorburger
• Created: 19/Jul/20 13:36
• Updated: 03/Nov/22 12:39

Description

Fineract currently lets an (the initla) Administrator end-user specify "system parameters" via the REST API (and thus the end-user UI). This makes sense for many of those "functional" parameters, but I would like to suggest -for discussion- that for some of the more low-level "technical" parameters, such as the choice and configuration of the Content Repository (local file VS AWS vs future GCS in FINERACT-955), or for the outgoing email configuration e.g. for https://github.com/vorburger/www.fineract.dev/issues/1 that is actually not ideal...

 

... because, as an "operator" (the IT guy who runs the server) you may not really want your "end-users" to both CHANGE your technical system configuration, nor perhaps let them SEE something like the credentials for your SMTP server, etc.

 

A pragmatic solution to this would be to let operators specify any of of those "Fineract system configuration" through environment variables. If they are set, POST-ing changes through the API layer should be refused (with a reasonable clear error message why; perhaps even including the number of this bug, but certainly NOT include revealing the respective parameter's current value).

 

This is admittedly more of an issue for a "hosted offering" like Fineract.dev or others like it than for "regular single tenant in-house on premise deployment" by an MFI like institution.

Issue Links

• is blocked by: FINERACT-1270 Unify Fineract 3 (!) different email sender utilities