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