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 3389,Allow m2m sets to be assigned by primary key value,Russell Keith-Magee,Adrian Holovaty,"At present, m2m relations must be specified using a list of object instances: {{{ john = Author(...) john.save() fred = Author(...) fred.save() Article.authors = [john, fred] }}} This proposal (and patch) would allow m2m relations be specified using primary key values in place of the object instance: {{{ Article.authors = [john.id, fred.id] # or, if you know the pk values to begin with... Article.authors = [4,7] }}} The reason for this is twofold: 1. For parity with the ability to set m2o related objects by primary key (using Article.author_id = 3) 2. To simplify deserialization, removing the need for a query to find related objects while deserializing m2m sets. ",,closed,"Database layer (models, ORM)",dev,,fixed,m2m primary key,,Design decision needed,1,1,0,0,0,0