Django migrate model with user in a foreignkey fails

Question

Im trying to migrate my django model:

from django.contrib.auth.models import User


class Post(models.Model):
    headline = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    slug = models.SlugField(max_length=200)
    body = models.TextField(blank=True, null=True)
    author = models.ForeignKey(User, null=True, blank=True)

I added the author field after I created the model.

Here is the migration django creates:

# encoding: utf8
from django.db import models, migrations


class Migration(migrations.Migration):

    dependencies = [('articles', '0002_auto')]

    operations = [
        migrations.AddField(
            field = models.ForeignKey(to_field=u'id', to=u'auth.User', blank=True, null=True),
            name = 'author',
            model_name = 'post',
        ),
    ]

Here is my traceback when I try to run ./manage.py migrate:

Operations to perform:
  Synchronize unmigrated apps: ckeditor, sessions, admin, messages, auth, staticfiles, contenttypes, django_extensions
  Apply all migrations: articles
Synchronizing apps without migrations:
  Creating tables...
  Installing custom SQL...
  Installing indexes...
Installed 0 object(s) from 0 fixture(s)
Running migrations:
  Applying articles.0002_post_author...Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./manage.py", line 10, in <module>
    execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
  File "/home/USER/.virtualenvs/PROJECT/src/django-trunk/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 397, in execute_from_command_line
    utility.execute()
  File "/home/USER/.virtualenvs/PROJECT/src/django-trunk/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 390, in execute
    self.fetch_command(subcommand).run_from_argv(self.argv)
  File "/home/USER/.virtualenvs/PROJECT/src/django-trunk/django/core/management/base.py", line 242, in run_from_argv
    self.execute(*args, **options.__dict__)
  File "/home/USER/.virtualenvs/PROJECT/src/django-trunk/django/core/management/base.py", line 289, in execute
    output = self.handle(*args, **options)
  File "/home/USER/.virtualenvs/PROJECT/src/django-trunk/django/core/management/commands/migrate.py", line 116, in handle
    executor.migrate(targets, plan, fake=options.get("fake", False))
  File "/home/USER/.virtualenvs/PROJECT/src/django-trunk/django/db/migrations/executor.py", line 60, in migrate
    self.apply_migration(migration, fake=fake)
  File "/home/USER/.virtualenvs/PROJECT/src/django-trunk/django/db/migrations/executor.py", line 73, in apply_migration
    migration.apply(project_state, schema_editor)
  File "/home/USER/.virtualenvs/PROJECT/src/django-trunk/django/db/migrations/migration.py", line 80, in apply
    operation.database_forwards(self.app_label, schema_editor, project_state, new_state)
  File "/home/USER/.virtualenvs/PROJECT/src/django-trunk/django/db/migrations/operations/fields.py", line 22, in database_forwards
    schema_editor.add_field(from_model, to_model._meta.get_field_by_name(self.name)[0])
  File "/home/USER/.virtualenvs/PROJECT/src/django-trunk/django/db/backends/schema.py", line 349, in add_field
    definition, params = self.column_sql(model, field, include_default=True)
  File "/home/USER/.virtualenvs/PROJECT/src/django-trunk/django/db/backends/schema.py", line 105, in column_sql
    db_params = field.db_parameters(connection=self.connection)
  File "/home/USER/.virtualenvs/PROJECT/src/django-trunk/django/db/models/fields/related.py", line 1285, in db_parameters
    return {"type": self.db_type(connection), "check": []}
  File "/home/USER/.virtualenvs/PROJECT/src/django-trunk/django/db/models/fields/related.py", line 1276, in db_type
    rel_field = self.related_field
  File "/home/USER/.virtualenvs/PROJECT/src/django-trunk/django/db/models/fields/related.py", line 1183, in related_field
    return self.foreign_related_fields[0]
  File "/home/USER/.virtualenvs/PROJECT/src/django-trunk/django/db/models/fields/related.py", line 971, in foreign_related_fields
    return tuple(rhs_field for lhs_field, rhs_field in self.related_fields)
  File "/home/USER/.virtualenvs/PROJECT/src/django-trunk/django/db/models/fields/related.py", line 958, in related_fields
    self._related_fields = self.resolve_related_fields()
  File "/home/USER/.virtualenvs/PROJECT/src/django-trunk/django/db/models/fields/related.py", line 943, in resolve_related_fields
    raise ValueError('Related model %r cannot been resolved' % self.rel.to)
ValueError: Related model u'auth.User' cannot been resolved

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

Rattletrap

Have you had any luck solving this? – Moyers

The code above is from Django 1.7 Alpha. I found it easier to just stick with Django 1.6.1 and South instead of using the built-in migration in Django 1.7 alpha. – Rattletrap

Answer 1

What helped me in this situation:

1. Delete all migration files except __init__.py (/%prjname%/migrations folder)
2. python manage.py makemigrations
3. python manage.py migrate

Not sure about exact cause, but i tried to use files, generated by my code-partner and it didn't work out.

Summitry

Answer 2

Ok, this is another funky feature of Django which cost me hours to figure it out. According to https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/topics/auth/customizing/#substituting-a-custom-user-model:

Due to limitations of Django’s dynamic dependency feature for swappable models, you must ensure that the model referenced by AUTH_USER_MODEL is created in the first migration of its app (usually called 0001_initial); otherwise, you will have dependency issues.

So to solve this problem the best "clean" way is to put your custom user model creation in 0001_initial.py and it will simply work. And that's the real reason why Lebedev Sergey's delete/makemigrations trick can work.

Scotsman

Maybe provide a small code example of how to actually accomplish this. Otherwise, congrats on your first answer! – Peony

Answer 3

If you make this change after you have applied ANY other migrations, you need to delete everything else in the migration folder and then run "python manage.py makemigrations". Then whatever you used for AUTH_USER_MODEL will be your first migration.

Sigrid

Answer 4

This probably isn't your problem if you're not using a custom user model, but remember to always use get_user_model() or when referencing the User class. Also, when defining a foreign key, settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL works, too, as in:

class MyModel(models.Model):  
    person = models.ForeignKey(settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL)

Type