Django doesn't call delete() for relatively deleted objects.

[Loststylus]

A simple example:

class Link(models.Model):

num = models.IntegerField('foo')

def delete(self):

super(Link, self).delete()
print('doing some cleanup after killing self')

class Something(models.Model):

link = models.ForeignField(Link)

Okay, now delete some "Links" from Admin site - delete() is called.
Try to delete some "Somethings" with relations - they are deleted and related "Links" are deleted, too, but delete() is not called for related objects.

[Loststylus]

Sorry for code mess

class Link(models.Model):
    num = models.IntegerField('foo')

    def delete(self):
        super(Link, self).delete()
        print('doing some cleanup after killing self')

class Something(models.Model):
    link = models.ForeignField(Link)

[Russell Keith-Magee]

This is by design, and ​documented as such. If delete() is called on the cascade, you could end up with a flood of calls to delete() methods. To prevent this sort of flood, delete() is only invoked on a direct call to delete an object.

[Loststylus]

So, how a developer supposed to do clean-up routines after deleting objects? It's wrong to iterate through related objects and call delete() on each of them from the delete() function.