"default_app_config" causes custom commands to not be found

[Greg Ziegan]

Not entirely sure if this is just an environment issue but I've been able to reproduce it with my current setup several times. You can look at my app's structure here:
​https://github.com/anovelmous-dev-squad/anovelmous

When I comment out where default_app_config is set in the app's init.py, all my custom commands can be found again.
​https://github.com/anovelmous-dev-squad/anovelmous/blob/master/anovelmous_app/__init__.py

[Tim Graham]

It looks like you have set ​AppConfig.name incorrectly. It ​points to 'api' but the Python path for that app appears to be 'anovelmous_app'.

[Greg Ziegan]

Replying to timgraham:

It looks like you have set ​AppConfig.name incorrectly. It ​points to 'api' but the Python path for that app appears to be 'anovelmous_app'.

When I change the name property to "anovelmous_app", I receive a LookupError.
LookupError: App 'anovelmous_app' doesn't have a 'Token' model.

I originally tried this setup to no avail, and it looked incorrect from the start. I need access to a database model on initialization that is defined in the api package. It works as expected when supplying "api" to the name property, except when looking for django commands.

[Tim Graham]

Okay, but that doesn't look like a bug in Django. Please see TicketClosingReasons/UseSupportChannels for ways to get help.

I will however propose a documentation patch which might help you understand why things aren't working as you expect.

docs/ref/applications.txt

@@ -204 +204 @@
 
 .. method:: AppConfig.get_models()
 
-    Returns an iterable of :class:`~django.db.models.Model` classes.
+    Returns an iterable of :class:`~django.db.models.Model` classes for this
+    application.
 
 .. method:: AppConfig.get_model(model_name)
 
     Returns the :class:`~django.db.models.Model` with the given
-    ``model_name``. Raises :exc:`LookupError` if no such model exists.
-    ``model_name`` is case-insensitive.
+    ``model_name``. Raises :exc:`LookupError` if no such model exists in this
+    application. ``model_name`` is case-insensitive.
 
 .. method:: AppConfig.ready()
 

[Greg Ziegan]

Replying to timgraham:

Okay, but that doesn't look like a bug in Django. Please see TicketClosingReasons/UseSupportChannels for ways to get help.

I will however propose a documentation patch which might help you understand why things aren't working as you expect.

docs/ref/applications.txt

@@ -204 +204 @@
 
 .. method:: AppConfig.get_models()
 
-    Returns an iterable of :class:`~django.db.models.Model` classes.
+    Returns an iterable of :class:`~django.db.models.Model` classes for this
+    application.
 
 .. method:: AppConfig.get_model(model_name)
 
     Returns the :class:`~django.db.models.Model` with the given
-    ``model_name``. Raises :exc:`LookupError` if no such model exists.
-    ``model_name`` is case-insensitive.
+    ``model_name``. Raises :exc:`LookupError` if no such model exists in this
+    application. ``model_name`` is case-insensitive.
 
 .. method:: AppConfig.ready()
 

Thank you, I ended up moving the AppConfig over to the other package and listed it in INSTALLED_APPS, resolving my issue. The documentation change does help clarify the issue.

[Tim Graham <timograham@…>]

In e7e8d30:

Refs #25381 -- Clarified that AppConfig model methods search only the current app.

[Tim Graham <timograham@…>]

In 95c00c4:

[1.8.x] Refs #25381 -- Clarified that AppConfig model methods search only the current app.

Backport of e7e8d30cae9457339eb49ae8584e82ff0a038e99 from master