Recommend that new projects start with PostgreSQL

[Carl Meyer]

A recurring issue on #django is users who have built a project locally using SQLite, and get to the point of wanting to deploy it, and want to switch to PostgreSQL. This introduces another sometimes-significant hurdle in their deployment learning curve (which is already unfortunately steep). In general I think users would be better off if they just started with PostgreSQL instead.

I don't think it's feasible to change the default project template off of SQLite, simply because of the "built-in, works out of the box" factor. But I think we could/should add a call-out to the tutorial, along the lines of "when starting your first real project, you may want to start out right away with a production-level database like PostgreSQL, to avoid database-switching headaches down the road."

[Collin Anderson]

We already recommend postgres in the faq, but I think it would be helpful to recommend it in the tutorial too. I wouldn't mind some basic "how to create the database" commands too.

​https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/faq/install/#what-are-django-s-prerequisites

[Aymeric Augustin]

One particular pain point for MySQL users (and many people start with MySQL) is to figure out:

# in development (need a superuser to create the test database)
$ createuser -S foo
$ createdb foo -O foo

# in production
$ createuser foo
$ createdb foo -O foo

We should document that if we don't already.

[Claude Paroz]

Aymeric, I don't see why your previous comment is specific to MySQL. For any database, isn't a requirement that the database user used for running tests needs the "CREATE DATABASE" permission (SQLite aside)?

[Aymeric Augustin]

Usually you manage MySQL users and tables from within the MySQL shell with special commands. I remember having to use OS-level commands instead as a problem for me about 5 years ago.

The problem is compounded by:

• the need to run commands as the postgres user (sudo su postgres)
• the learning curve of pg_hba.conf, which is why I'm suggesting to use a superuser for local development

[Claude Paroz]

Oh, I completely misread comment:2, sorry. Was probably not completely awake. And yes, it's also my experience that user management in Postgres might be a little more tricky than on MySQL.

[Aymeric Augustin]

I'm not sure where the extra instructions would go, so let's keep it simple for now.

[Tim Graham <timograham@…>]

In 7901eccf2e591447850be00011a7bb556a3c53f2:

Fixed #24371 -- Cautioned against trying to switch databases.

[Tim Graham <timograham@…>]

In 2a28606b15070677f9d4aa3cc61a939d9fc501fa:

[1.7.x] Fixed #24371 -- Cautioned against trying to switch databases.

Backport of 7901eccf2e591447850be00011a7bb556a3c53f2 from master

[Tim Graham <timograham@…>]

In fbddd946adf1ae0efc90f022df3c6f6d3b1abfa1:

[1.8.x] Fixed #24371 -- Cautioned against trying to switch databases.

Backport of 7901eccf2e591447850be00011a7bb556a3c53f2 from master