Unclear documentation: use of paths with loaddata

[Daniel Brotsky]

The howto on fixtures [1] states that providing a path to loaddata overrides the usual search, but in fact this is only true of an absolute path. Relative paths to fixture files can be used to namespace them as with templates and static files.

I suggest that the docs be updated to clarify this point about paths and to add namespacing advice for fixture files analogous to that for templates [2] and static files [3]. I have prepared a pull request [4] with a suggested fix.

References:
[1] ​https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.9/howto/initial-data/#where-django-finds-fixture-files
[2] ​https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.9/intro/tutorial03/
[3] ​https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.9/howto/static-files/#configuring-static-files
[4] ​https://github.com/django/django/pull/6996

[Tim Graham]

Left an idea for improvement on the PR. Please uncheck "Patch needs improvement" when you update it.

[Daniel Brotsky]

I am happy to improve the patch, but have in mind a slightly different approach, and would like your opinion. Please see the PR for details.

[Filip Łajszczak]

Has new PR ​https://github.com/django/django/pull/16104

[Filip Łajszczak]

See also possible follow up #34054

[Mariusz Felisiak <felisiak.mariusz@…>]

In fe6f4be:

Fixed #26975 -- Clarified how Django looks for fixture files.

Co-Authored-By: Daniel Brotsky <dev@…>