startproject command - need better error message

[dhivya23]

can startproject command throw a more useful error message ?
When I already have started a project called 'companyweb' and have set env variable, DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE to its settings file, and I do,

django-admin.py startproject mysite

Unknown command: 'startproject'
Type 'django-admin.py help' for usage

Can this message say something like,
"Unknown command: 'startproject'. Project 'companyweb' is the current project. "

[Baptiste Mispelon]

Hi,

Could you provide some mode details on how to reproduce this?

The starproject command should normally always be available regardless of which settings you're using.

I've tried both with django-admin.py and manage.py to create a new project inside an existing one (with the DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE env var set), but it succeeded each time.

I'm closing this as needsinfo. Please reopen if you have more information on how to reproduce this issue.

Thanks.

[Tomas Krajca]

Hi,

I think this has been fixed in commit a9a0f0b03f9a02deb03617bf7e9773a307d1328f (django 1.4). The 'startproject' and 'startapp' commands are not disabled any more when specifying a settings module.

$ git diff 20c8aa2a2029be50449b25122f85bbef0f2b957f a9a0f0b03f9a02deb03617bf7e9773a307d1328f django/core/management/__init__.py
diff --git a/django/core/management/__init__.py b/django/core/management/__init__.py
index 7e8eebd..3672639 100644
--- a/django/core/management/__init__.py
+++ b/django/core/management/__init__.py
@@ -77,9 +77,7 @@ def get_commands():
     in that package are registered.
 
     Core commands are always included. If a settings module has been
-    specified, user-defined commands will also be included, the
-    startproject command will be disabled, and the startapp command
-    will be modified to use the directory in which the settings module appears.
+    specified, user-defined commands will also be included.
 
     The dictionary is in the format {command_name: app_name}. Key-value
     pairs from this dictionary can then be used in calls to

I hope this helps.

[dhivya23]

Hi,

Thanks for looking into this. I am using django version 1.3.1 . I was following this particular versions documentation, ​https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.3/intro/tutorial01/

If it is fixed in 1.4, can the 1.3 documentation have a note about the DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE env variable ? I can submit a documentation change patch for this.

Thanks

[Tomas Krajca]

Hi,

The DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE env variable in relation to startproject is mentioned in ​https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.3/ref/django-admin/#django-admin-startproject (for 1.3, 1.2, 1.1 and also 1.0).

This issue has also been discussed and fixed to the satisfaction of the core team before - https://code.djangoproject.com/query?summary=~startproject&col=id&col=summary&col=status&col=owner&col=type&col=component&order=priority, https://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/8639 or ​https://github.com/django/django/commit/d73c9a5671