Django/Python EnvironmentError?

Question

I am getting an error when I try to use syncdb:

python manage.py syncdb

Error message:

File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/django/conf/__init__.py", line 83, in __init__
raise EnvironmentError, "Could not import settings '%s' (Is it on sys.path? Does it have syntax errors?): %s" % (self.SETTINGS_MODULE, e)
EnvironmentError: Could not import settings '/home/simi/workspace/hssn_svn/hssn' (Is it on sys.path? Does ti have syntax errors?): Import by filename is not supported.

I'm a newbie with Django/Python, but I can't figure this error out after having researched online for a while now.

Solution 1

Your trace states:

Import by filename is not supported.

Which might indicate that you try to import (or maybe set the DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE) to the full python filename, where it should be a module path: your.module.settings

You could also try to specify your DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE directly from command line, like:

$ DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=your.module.settings ./manage.py syncdb

Solution 2

Another thing that gives this error is permissions - very hard to track down.

Solution for me was to move <myproject> to /var/www/<myproject> and do chown -R root:root /var/www/<myproject>

Solution 3

Make sure your settings.py file is in the same directory as manage.py (you will also have to run manage.py from this directory, i.e. ./manage.py syncdb), or make the environment variable DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE point to it.

Comments

[simi]

settings.py is in the same directory as manage.py I'm trying to set up a development area to work in and use svn to commit my changes to production. I'm using a VM running Ubuntu Jaunty (9.04) and I've been trying to set the DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE as an environment variable, but it does not seem to want to take it. BTW, thank you for the quick reply.

[Yogesh Gandhi]

Then maybe there are errors in your settings.py file, try opening a python shell and doing "import settings" to check.

[miku]

thanks, a mistake. i corrected it; since i think trying to set the DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE may help finding a fix to the problem.

[simi]

Ahhhh... Yes, I was exporting the entire path, so I changed it to just settings.py since the path to my project was already in sys.path. I now have other errors, but I will post different questions for that. Thank you all... You are AWESOME.

[GrayedFox]

"Which might indicate that you try to import (or maybe set the DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE) to the full python filename" ... spot on. Thanks :)

[mkelley33]

@LuperRouch that was my problem. Using the shell to determine which dependencies I'd forgotten was an excellent debugging suggestion. Problem solved. Thank you :)