Allow rename of project directory

[Noam Raphael <spam.noam@…>]

Hello,

Currently, a project directory can't be renamed. If I have created a site called "mysite", then it must live in a directory called "mysite". Renaming a project directory is useful if you want to keep a backup of a site, or to compare two versions - the easiest way is to copy "mysite" into "old_mysite", but the "old_mysite" doesn't work. Currently, I have to make a directory called "old" and copy "mysite" into it.

The attached simple patch solves this. It changes setup_environ() to check if a parameter called PROJECT_NAME is available in settings.py. If it is, the package is loaded by that name. If it isn't, the package is loaded by the directory name, just like it is now. It uses the imp.load_module function, so it doesn't have to append the parent directory to sys.path and then pop it.

Have a good day,
Noam

[dgriffin]

Three years old, but it still seems an excellent idea. I've come across situations where this is be an ideal solution.

[Carl Meyer]

The root cause of this is #15372, manage.py adding the parent directory to sys.path. It shouldn't do that at all - adding a PROJECT_NAME setting is not a real solution. Marking duplicate.