Address review comments

lms/djangoapps/courseware/courses.py

@@ -36,7 +36,8 @@ def check_course(course_id, course_must_be_open=True, course_required=True):
         except (KeyError, ItemNotFoundError):
             raise Http404("Course not found.")
 
-        if course_must_be_open and not (course.has_started() or settings.MITX_FEATURES['DISABLE_START_DATES']):
+        started = course.has_started() or settings.MITX_FEATURES['DISABLE_START_DATES']
+        if course_must_be_open and not started:
             raise Http404("This course has not yet started.")
 
     return course

lms/envs/common.py

@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@ MITX_FEATURES = {
     'DISPLAY_HISTOGRAMS_TO_STAFF' : True,
     'REROUTE_ACTIVATION_EMAIL' : False,		# nonempty string = address for all activation emails 
     'DEBUG_LEVEL' : 0,				# 0 = lowest level, least verbose, 255 = max level, most verbose
+
+    ## DO NOT SET TO True IN THIS FILE
+    ## Doing so will cause all courses to be released on production
     'DISABLE_START_DATES': False,  # When True, all courses will be active, regardless of start date
 }