Django 3.x error: 'mysql.connector.django' isn't an available database backend

Question

Having recently upgraded a Django project from 2.x to 3.x, I noticed that the mysql.connector.django backend (from mysql-connector-python) no longer works. The last version of Django that it works with is 2.2.11. It breaks with 3.0. I am using mysql-connector-python==8.0.19.

When running manage.py runserver, the following error occurs:

django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: 'mysql.connector.django' isn't an available database backend.
Try using 'django.db.backends.XXX', where XXX is one of:
    'mysql', 'oracle', 'postgresql', 'sqlite3'

I am aware that this is not an official Django backend but I have to use it on this project for reasons beyond my control.

I am 80% sure this is an issue with the library but I'm just looking to see if there is anything that can be done to resolve it beyond waiting for an update.

UPDATE:

mysql.connector.django now works with Django 3+.

Rakish

which version of python are you using? – Iwo

I am using Python 3.7. – Rakish

Answer 1

For Django 3.0 and Django 3.1 I managed to have it working with mysql-connector-python 8.0.22. See this https://dev.mysql.com/doc/relnotes/connector-python/en/news-8-0-22.html.

Fillian

I tried the latest version a while ago and it imports from django.db.backends.mysql.base, which requires mysqlclient. The old version of mysql-connector-python didn't. I can't use mysqlclient in this one particular project. Please correct me if wrong. – Rakish

There is no mysqlclient in the pipfile of the project I was working on. – Fillian

In my case when I tried Django 3.2 and mysql-connector-python 8.0.25 it complained that I didn't have mysqlclient installed. It looks like the mysqlclient requirement was added after 8.0.22 in this commit when they now import django.db.backends.mysql.base: github.com/mysql/mysql-connector-python/commit/… – Rakish

Using Django 3.1 is not an option? – Fillian

I guess so, just not ideal that support drops off after that. Anyway, I'll update the accepted answer seeing as yours is now most relevant. – Rakish

Answer 2

Connector/Python still supports Python 2.7, which was dropped by Django 3. We are currently working on adding support for Django 3, stay tunned.

Neustria

Is there any place that this can be tracked? I filed a bug report a while ago but it has not been acknowledged yet: bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=99106 – Rakish

Yes. There's a contribution that we are working on. See bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=99069 This bug will also be updated. – Neustria

These bug reports seem to have gone pretty quiet. – Rakish

@Rakish they will be updated once the work is released. Which will be soon. – Neustria

mysql.connector.django now works with Django 3+, however, it also now requires that you use mysqlclient as it imports from django.db.backends.mysql.base as opposed to django.db.backends.base.base as previously. In one project I cannot use mysqlclient (my reason for using the connector in the first place), so this problem remains. – Rakish

Correct. But that was fixed in 8.0.26, it doesn't have the dependency anymore (Bug #32947160). See dev.mysql.com/doc/relnotes/connector-python/en/news-8-0-26.html – Neustria

I'm not able to test this at the moment but it is good to know for future! – Rakish

Confirming that 8.0.26-8.029 work as expected, however >= 8.0.30 I get database errors when running locally (weirdly, it works on the live server). – Rakish

Answer 3

in settings.py change database engine this way 'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql'

Horatio