(2006, 'MySQL server has gone away') in django1.6 when wait_timeout passed

[ekeydar@…]

In django 1.6, when the wait_timeout passed (of mysql), then DB access cause the (2006, 'MySQL server has gone away') error.
This was not the case in django 1.5.1

I've noticed this error when using workers that run the django code (using gearman).

To reproduce:

Set the timeout to low value by editing /etc/mysql/my.cnf
add the following under [mysqld]

wait_timeout = 10
interactive_timeout = 10

Then
% python manage.py shell

# access DB
import django.contrib.auth.models
print list(django.contrib.auth.models.User.objects.all())
import time
time.sleep(15)
print list(django.contrib.auth.models.User.objects.all())

Now you get the error.

Simple solution I found on the web is to call django.db.close_connection() before the access

import django.db
django.db.close_connection()
print list(django.contrib.auth.models.User.objects.all())

works ok.