id	summary	reporter	owner	description	type	status	component	version	severity	resolution	keywords	cc	stage	has_patch	needs_docs	needs_tests	needs_better_patch	easy	ui_ux
8537	clarify session expiration	anonymous	nobody	"the ""How to use sessions"" documentation at http://www.djangoproject.com/documentation/sessions/ is inaccurate in its description of session expiration.  In particular, the definition of what constitutes ""activity"" and the meaning of the set_expiry() call should be clarified. 

First, it appears from reviewing the code and observing the session code on my website, that ""activity"" that resets the sessions expiration time is anything that _writes_ to the session. Reading from the session does not seem to reset the expiration time.

Second, set_expiry(foo) where foo is a datetime does not  set the expiration to that datetime's value. Instead it seems to compute a delta between now() and foo and then push the expiration time this far into the future every time the session is written to. Similarly, set_expiry(foo) where foo is a timedelta does not cause the session to expire in foo seconds in the future but instead causes the session's expiration to be pushed foo seconds into the future every time the session is written to."		closed	Documentation	dev		fixed			Ready for checkin	1	0	0	0	0	0