Django No module named 'static_root'

Question

I am trying to create a local bootstrap file for rendering a website using Django. When setting up the static files directory, I modified the settings and now I keep getting the error "ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'static_root'"

If I try to comment out the static_url or staticfiles_dirs declarations, the error doesn't go away. The settings.py file looks as follows:

settings.py:

"""
Django settings for static_root project.

Generated by 'django-admin startproject' using Django 2.2.

For more information on this file, see
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/topics/settings/

For the full list of settings and their values, see
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/ref/settings/
"""


import os

# Build paths inside the project like this: os.path.join(BASE_DIR, ...)
BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))


# Quick-start development settings - unsuitable for production
# See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/howto/deployment/checklist/

# SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!


# SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
DEBUG = True

ALLOWED_HOSTS = []


# Application definition

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'static_root',
    'app.apps.AppConfig',
    'nested_admin',
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
]

MIDDLEWARE = [
    'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
]

ROOT_URLCONF = 'static_root.urls'

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
        'DIRS': [os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'templates')],
        'APP_DIRS': True,
        'OPTIONS': {
            'context_processors': [
                'django.template.context_processors.debug',
                'django.template.context_processors.request',
                'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
                'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
            ],
        },
    },
]

WSGI_APPLICATION = 'static_root.wsgi.application'


# Database
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/ref/settings/#databases

# DATABASES = {
#     'default': {
#         'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
#         'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),
#     }
# }

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
        'NAME': 'sensor_package',
        'HOST': '127.0.0.1',
        'PORT': '3306',
        'USER': 'root',
        'PASSWD': '',
    }
}


# Password validation
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/ref/settings/#auth-password-validators

AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = [
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.UserAttributeSimilarityValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.MinimumLengthValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.CommonPasswordValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.NumericPasswordValidator',
    },
]


# Internationalization
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/topics/i18n/

LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'

TIME_ZONE = 'CET'

USE_I18N = True

USE_L10N = True

USE_TZ = True


# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/howto/static-files/

#STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static')
STATIC_URL = '/static/'

STATICFILES_DIRS = (
    os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static'),
)


MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'media')
MEDIA_URL = '/media/'

The folder structure looks like this:

Folder Structire

The error messages look as follows:

  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 961, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 936, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 205, in _call_with_frames_removed
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 978, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 961, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 948, in _find_and_load_unlocked
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'static_root'

Why would you name an app similarly to built-in Django option? Or this is the result of inaccurate replace? — Ivan Starostin
Are you referring to "app". Regardless, I tried to follow a tutorial in the beginning and adapter my structure to the one presented there. But the project has evolved a lot since then — Andrei
oh wow a secret key went public. Consider creating a new one ;) — hansTheFranz

AKX AKX · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-13T11:54:45

You have 'static_root' in your INSTALLED_APPS. It doesn't belong there as it's a directory (probably), not a Python package.

EDIT: It's also in the WSGI_APP and the ROOT_URLCONF. If you don't have a package by that name, then that's wrong.

Django No module named 'static_root'

1 Answers