Touch wsgi file vs. apache restart?

According to the mod_wsgi docs, code reloading generally works better when using mod_wsgi in daemon mode. Our Django trunk installer currently sets things up in embedded mode, so if your code isn't reloading, then you're probably bumping into this bit:

Do note though that this script reloading mechanism is not intended as a general purpose code reloading mechanism. Only the script file itself is reloaded, no other Python modules are reloaded. This means that if modifying normal Python code files which are used by your WSGI application, you will need to trigger a restart of Apache. For example, if you are using Django in embedded mode and needed to change your 'settings.py' file, you would still need to restart Apache.

We're going to change our Django trunk installer so that it sets things up in daemon mode, so new apps will be easier to work with. I can't say how soon that will happen, so if you want to want to switch to daemon mode now, there are two ways to go about it:

• You can create a Django 1.3.1 (mod_wsgi 3.3/Python 2.7) app via our control panel, update those libraries to the latest trunk, and re-deploy your code under that app, or...
• You can update your existing httpd.conf to include the following directives, just before the WSGIScriptAlias directive (be sure to change the username, app name, and any other parts that are specific to your app, and restart Apache after making the changes):

    WSGIDaemonProcess your_app processes=2 threads=12 python-path=/home/your_username/webapps/your_app:/home/your_username/webapps/your_app/lib/python2.7
    WSGIProcessGroup your_app
    WSGIRestrictEmbedded On
    WSGILazyInitialization On

I recommend that you take the first option, since that installer will set up Apache with the worker MPM and will be a bit more frugal with RAM usage.

Hope that helps!