Installed 0 object(s) from 0 fixture(s) not reading FIXTURE_DIRS correctly

Question

Here are my settings

FIXTURE_DIRS = (
      os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "fixtures",)
)

$ python manage.py diffsettings | grep fixtures
FIXTURE_DIRS = '/home/user/project/src/fixtures'

What is strange when I run syncdb I get the following. It recursively loads each and every char in the fixtures path set in FIXTURE_DIRS. It does not find any of the directories as they do not exist.

$ python manage.py syncdb -v3  
project.settings  
project/src  
Running pre-sync handlers for application admin  
Running pre-sync handlers for application auth  
Running pre-sync handlers for application contenttypes  
Running pre-sync handlers for application sessions  
Running pre-sync handlers for application messages  
Running pre-sync handlers for application staticfiles  
Running pre-sync handlers for application admindocs  
Running pre-sync handlers for application webdesign  
Running pre-sync handlers for application helloworld  
Creating tables ...  
Running post-sync handlers for application admin  
Running post-sync handlers for application auth  
Running post-sync handlers for application contenttypes  
Running post-sync handlers for application sessions  
Running post-sync handlers for application messages  
Running post-sync handlers for application staticfiles  
Running post-sync handlers for application admindocs  
Running post-sync handlers for application webdesign  
Running post-sync handlers for application helloworld  
Installing custom SQL ...  
Installing indexes ...  
Checking '/' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in '/'.  
Checking 'project/src/h' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/h'.  
Checking 'project/src/o' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/o'.  
Checking 'project/src/m' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/m'.  
Checking 'project/src/e' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/e'.  
Checking '/' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in '/'.  
Checking 'project/src/u' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/u'.  
Checking 'project/src/s' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/s'.  
Checking 'project/src/e' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/e'.  
Checking 'project/src/r' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/r'.    
Checking '/' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in '/'.  
Checking 'project/src/p' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/p'.  
Checking 'project/src/r' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/r'.  
Checking 'project/src/o' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/o'.  
Checking 'project/src/j' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/j'.  
Checking 'project/src/e' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/e'.  
Checking 'project/src/c' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/c'.  
Checking 'project/src/t' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/t'.  
Checking '/' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in '/'.  
Checking 'project/src/s' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/s'.  
Checking 'project/src/r' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/r'.  
Checking 'project/src/c' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/c'.  
Checking '/' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in '/'.  
Checking 'project/src/f' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/f'.  
Checking 'project/src/i' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/i'.  
Checking 'project/src/x' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/x'.  
Checking 'project/src/t' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/t'.  
Checking 'project/src/u' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/u'.  
Checking 'project/src/r' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/r'.  
Checking 'project/src/e' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/e'.  
Checking 'project/src/s' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src/s'.  
Checking 'project/src' for fixtures...  
No fixture 'initial_data' in 'project/src'.  
Installed 0 object(s) from 0 fixture(s)  

Answer 1

This problem was solved but a closer look at my settings.

FIXTURE_DIRS = (
      os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "fixtures",)
)

It should have been

FIXTURE_DIRS = (
      os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "fixtures",),
)

If you can't see what the difference is neither could I for the hours I spent trying to figure this out. , is the only difference. Look at the end of os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "fixtures",) there is now a ,.

I expect this problem will be encountered by some else in the future. So I provided the answer.