Import error:Settings cannot be imported

Question

Hi,

When I try and import my models after running python2.7, I am getting the following error:

>>> from polls.models import User
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "polls/models.py", line 1, in <module>
    from django.db import models
  File "/home/shopperspoll/webapps/django/lib/python2.7/django/db/__init__.py", line 14, in <module>
    if not settings.DATABASES:
  File "/home/shopperspoll/webapps/django/lib/python2.7/django/utils/functional.py", line 276, in __getattr__
    self._setup()
  File "/home/shopperspoll/webapps/django/lib/python2.7/django/conf/__init__.py", line 40, in _setup
    raise ImportError("Settings cannot be imported, because environment variable %s is undefined." % ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE)
ImportError: Settings cannot be imported, because environment variable DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE is undefined.

I was wondering if I'm doing something wrong here? The models are getting imported properly in my views.py methods which get called on going to my site.

Answer 1

If you're playing with Django directly from Python, and not from Django's own manage.py shell, then you need to set the DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE variable before launching Python.

For example, if you have a Django project named "myproject", then run the following before launching Python:

export DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=myproject.settings

For Apache to pick up that variable, you need to set it in httpd.conf as follows:

SetEnv DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE myproject.settings

Import error:Settings cannot be imported

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