Detect a settings module as Django project type

[chrishas35]

I have a project with the following structure (following the recent advice of BDFL @jacobian, http://www.slideshare.net/jacobian/the-best-and-worst-of-django slide 51)

root/
    Procfile
    requirements.txt
    project/
        settings/
            __init__.py (empty)
            base.py
            sqlite.py
            postgres.py

Unfortunately, Heroku doesn't detect this as a Django project due to the fact that a settings.py file does not exist.

[kenreitz42]

Thanks for the feedback. This isn't the first time someone's asked us to support this. We'll keep it in mind.

---

Luckily, it is recognized as a regular Python application, and will work properly if you configure it. You'll just have to add a few lines to get the database info from the environment in your settings.

[chrishas35]

Ahh, yes...I logged it and then decided to start hacking for a solution. Thanks for the tip and for including the relevant info in an environment variable.

For others who may come across this, the workaround is to add the following to the settings file being used:

# Manually inject Heroku settings due to lack of a settings.py file
# https://github.com/heroku/heroku-buildpack-python/blob/master/bin/compile
# 
# Issue logged https://github.com/heroku/heroku-buildpack-python/issues/15

import os
import sys
import urlparse
urlparse.uses_netloc.append('postgres')
urlparse.uses_netloc.append('mysql')

try:

    # Check to make sure DATABASES is set in settings.py file.
    # If not default to {}

    if 'DATABASES' not in locals():
        DATABASES = {}

    if 'DATABASE_URL' in os.environ:
        url = urlparse.urlparse(os.environ['DATABASE_URL'])

        # Ensure default database exists.
        DATABASES['default'] = DATABASES.get('default', {})

        # Update with environment configuration.
        DATABASES['default'].update({
            'NAME': url.path[1:],
            'USER': url.username,
            'PASSWORD': url.password,
            'HOST': url.hostname,
            'PORT': url.port,
        })
        if url.scheme == 'postgres':
            DATABASES['default']['ENGINE'] = 'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2'

        if url.scheme == 'mysql':
            DATABASES['default']['ENGINE'] = 'django.db.backends.mysql'
except:
    print 'Unexpected error:', sys.exc_info()