Basic configuration

To configure Django with mod_python, first make sure you have Apache installed, with the mod_python module activated.

Then edit your httpd.conf file and add the following:

<Location "/mysite/">
    SetHandler python-program
    PythonHandler django.core.handlers.modpython
    SetEnv DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE myproject.settings
    PythonDebug On
</Location>

...and replace myproject.settings with the Python path to your settings file.

This tells Apache: "Use mod_python for any URL at or under '/mysite/', using the Django mod_python handler." It passes the value of DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE so mod_python knows which settings to use.

Also, if you've manually altered your PYTHONPATH to put your Django project on it, you'll need to tell mod_python:

PythonPath "['/path/to/project'] + sys.path"

You can also add directives such as PythonAutoReload Off for performance. See the mod_python documentation for a full list of options.

Note that you should set PythonDebug Off on a production server. If you leave PythonDebug On, your users would see ugly (and revealing) Python tracebacks if something goes wrong within mod_python.

Restart Apache, and any request to /mysite/ or below will be served by Django. Note that Django's URLconfs won't trim the "/mysite/" -- they get passed the full URL.

When deploying Django sites on mod_python, you'll need to restart Apache each time you make changes to your Python code.

Multiple Django installations on the same Apache

It's entirely possible to run multiple Django installations on the same Apache instance. Just use VirtualHost for that, like so:

NameVirtualHost *

<VirtualHost *>
    ServerName www.example.com
    # ...
    SetEnv DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE myproject.settings
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *>
    ServerName www2.example.com
    # ...
    SetEnv DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE myproject.other_settings
</VirtualHost>

If you need to put two Django installations within the same VirtualHost, you'll need to take a special precaution to ensure mod_python's cache doesn't mess things up. Use the PythonInterpreter directive to give different <Location> directives separate interpreters:

<VirtualHost *>
    ServerName www.example.com
    # ...
    <Location "/something">
        SetEnv DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE myproject.settings
        PythonInterpreter myproject
    </Location>

    <Location "/otherthing">
        SetEnv DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE myproject.other_settings
        PythonInterpreter myproject_other
    </Location>
</VirtualHost>

The values of PythonInterpreter don't really matter, as long as they're different between the two Location blocks.

Running a development server with mod_python

If you use mod_python for your development server, you can avoid the hassle of having to restart the server each time you make code changes. Just set MaxRequestsPerChild 1 in your httpd.conf file to force Apache to reload everything for each request. But don't do that on a production server, or we'll revoke your Django privileges.

Serving media files

Django doesn't serve media files itself; it leaves that job to whichever Web server you choose.

We recommend using a separate Web server -- i.e., one that's not also running Django -- for serving media. Here are some good choices:

• lighttpd
• TUX
• A stripped-down version of Apache

If, however, you have no option but to serve media files on the same Apache VirtualHost as Django, here's how you can turn off mod_python for a particular part of the site:

<Location "/media/">
    SetHandler None
</Location>

Just change Location to the root URL of your media files. You can also use <LocationMatch> to match a regular expression.

This example sets up Django at the site root but explicitly disables Django for the media subdirectory and any URL that ends with .jpg, .gif or .png:

<Location "/">
    SetHandler python-program
    PythonHandler django.core.handlers.modpython
    SetEnv DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE myproject.settings
</Location>

<Location "media">
    SetHandler None
</Location>

<LocationMatch "\.(jpg|gif|png)$">
    SetHandler None
</LocationMatch>

Serving the admin files

Note that the Django development server automagically serves admin media files, but this is not the case when you use any other server arrangement. You're responsible for setting up Apache, or whichever media server you're using, to serve the admin files.

The admin files live in (django/contrib/admin/media) of the Django distribution.

Here are two recommended approaches:

1. Create a symbolic link to the admin media files from within your document root. This way, all of your Django-related files -- code and templates -- stay in one place, and you'll still be able to svn update your code to get the latest admin templates, if they change.
2. Or, copy the admin media files so that they live within your document root.