Django manage.py migrate ImportError

Question

I am going through the Django tutorial (version 1.8) and when I try to create the databases for INSTALLED_APPS using the cmd python manage.py migrate

I end up getting the following Import Error:

File "manage.py", line 10, in <module>
execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\core\management\__init__.py", line 338, in execute_from_command_line
utility.execute()
File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\core\management\__init__.py", line 303, in execute
settings.INSTALLED_APPS
File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\conf\__init__.py", line 48, in __getattr__
self._setup(name)
File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\conf\__init__.py", line 44, in _setup
self._wrapped = Settings(settings_module)
File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\conf\__init__.py", line 92, in __init__
mod = importlib.import_module(self.SETTINGS_MODULE)
File "C:\Python27\lib\importlib\__init__.py", line 37, in import_module
__import__(name)
ImportError: Import by filename is not supported.

My DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE links to the correct location ...Django\mysite\mysite\settings.py

And here is my settings.py:

# Build paths inside the project like this: os.path.join(BASE_DIR, ...)
import os

BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))


# Quick-start development settings - unsuitable for production
# See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/howto/deployment/checklist/

# SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!
SECRET_KEY = 'iv@evv%4@c9v5@oq+o=e%=d#$z1je=o)c98cdbm3ax6h1fr%m7'

# SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
DEBUG = True

ALLOWED_HOSTS = []


# Application definition

INSTALLED_APPS = (
'django.contrib.admin',
'django.contrib.auth',
'django.contrib.contenttypes',
'django.contrib.sessions',
'django.contrib.messages',
'django.contrib.staticfiles',
)

MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = (
'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
'django.contrib.auth.middleware.SessionAuthenticationMiddleware',
'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
)

ROOT_URLCONF = 'mysite.urls'

TEMPLATES = [
{
    'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
    'DIRS': [],
    'APP_DIRS': True,
    'OPTIONS': {
        'context_processors': [
            'django.template.context_processors.debug',
            'django.template.context_processors.request',
            'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
            'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
        ],
    },
},
]

WSGI_APPLICATION = 'mysite.wsgi.application'


# Database
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/ref/settings/#databases

DATABASES = {
'default': {
    'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
    'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),
}
}


# Internationalization
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/topics/i18n/

LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'

TIME_ZONE = 'America/New_York'

USE_I18N = True

USE_L10N = True

USE_TZ = True


# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/howto/static-files/

STATIC_URL = '/static/'

Answer 1

The error is not actually with INSTALLED_APPS; if you notice, the error is occurring on mod = importlib.import_module(self.SETTINGS_MODULE), meaning it's unable to import your settings module.

The problem, in this case, is that your DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE needs to be a dotted Python path, rather than a filesystem path. My best guess for what you need is:

DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE="mysite.mysite.settings"

Answer 2

ImportError: Import by filename is not supported.

Looks like you're trying to import an app and specify the filename instead of the name. Could you post the settings.py? You have to write something like this:

INSTALLED_APPS = (

... snip ...

   'polls',
)

and not something like this:

INSTALLED_APPS = (

... snip ...

   'polls.py',
)