From 9e734875fe7fb078aa4ef0e84578aa7e641f5563 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Tim Graham <timograham@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2016 07:36:37 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] Fixed #24994 -- Documented the expected type of
 settings.SECRET_KEY.

---
 docs/ref/settings.txt | 4 ++++
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+)

diff --git a/docs/ref/settings.txt b/docs/ref/settings.txt
index 10f60b3b2e..e9c333081a 100644
--- a/docs/ref/settings.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/settings.txt
@@ -2048,6 +2048,10 @@ unpredictable value.
 :djadmin:`django-admin startproject <startproject>` automatically adds a
 randomly-generated ``SECRET_KEY`` to each new project.
 
+Uses of the key shouldn't assume that it's text or bytes. Every use should go
+through :func:`~django.utils.encoding.force_text` or
+:func:`~django.utils.encoding.force_bytes` to convert it to the desired type.
+
 Django will refuse to start if :setting:`SECRET_KEY` is not set.
 
 .. warning::