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
25285	"Unknown django-admin command raises ""settings not configured"" when no project exists"	Maxime Lorant	nobody	"When you try to execute a command that does not exist outside a Django project (e.g. createproject instead of startproject...), Django raise a `ImproperlyConfigured` that does not fit with the real error:


{{{
(testdjango):~/testdjango$ django-admin.py not-a-real-command test
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File ""/root/testdjango/bin/django-admin.py"", line 5, in <module>
    management.execute_from_command_line()
  File ""/root/testdjango/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py"", line 338, in execute_from_command_line
    utility.execute()
  File ""/root/testdjango/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py"", line 330, in execute
    self.fetch_command(subcommand).run_from_argv(self.argv)
  File ""/root/testdjango/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py"", line 182, in fetch_command
    settings.INSTALLED_APPS
  File ""/root/testdjango/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/conf/__init__.py"", line 48, in __getattr__
    self._setup(name)
  File ""/root/testdjango/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/conf/__init__.py"", line 42, in _setup
    % (desc, ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE))
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Requested setting INSTALLED_APPS, but settings are not configured. You must either define the environment variable DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE or call settings.configure() before accessing settings.
}}}

The expected output is:

{{{
(testdjango):~/testdjango$ django-admin.py not-a-real-command test
Unknown command: 'not-a-real-command'
Type 'django-admin.py help' for usage.
}}}"	Cleanup/optimization	closed	Core (Management commands)	dev	Normal	fixed	django-admin command		Ready for checkin	1	0	0	0	0	0