How can I save my secret keys and password securely in my version control system?
Encrypt the passwords file, using for example GPG. Add the keys on your local machine and on your server. Decrypt the file and put it outside your repo folders.
I use a passwords.conf, located in my homefolder. On every deploy this file gets updated.
I keep important settings like the hostnames and ports of development and production servers in my version control system. But I know that it's bad practice to keep secrets (like private keys and database passwords) in a VCS repository.
But passwords--like any other setting--seem like they should be versioned. So what is the proper way to keep passwords version controlled?
I imagine it would involve keeping the secrets in their own "secrets settings" file and having that file encrypted and version controlled. But what technologies? And how to do this properly? Is there a better way entirely to go about it?

I ask the question generally, but in my specific instance I would like to store secret keys and passwords for a Django/Python site using git and github.
Also, an ideal solution would do something magical when I push/pull with git--e.g., if the encrypted passwords file changes a script is run which asks for a password and decrypts it into place.

EDIT: For clarity, I am asking about where to store production secrets.