Changing a project name in django

Question

I changed the name of my django project from oldname to newname using Pycharm's refactor > rename. I have scoured through the project and it seems to have changed the name everywhere. But when I try runserver, here's what I get,

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/melissa/Dropbox/newname/manage.py", line 15, in <module>
    execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
  File "/Users/melissa/Dropbox/newname/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 371, in execute_from_command_line
    utility.execute()
  File "/Users/melissa/Dropbox/newname/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 317, in execute
    settings.INSTALLED_APPS
  File "/Users/melissa/Dropbox/newname/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/conf/__init__.py", line 56, in __getattr__
    self._setup(name)
  File "/Users/melissa/Dropbox/newname/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/conf/__init__.py", line 43, in _setup
    self._wrapped = Settings(settings_module)
  File "/Users/melissa/Dropbox/newname/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/conf/__init__.py", line 106, in __init__
    mod = importlib.import_module(self.SETTINGS_MODULE)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/python/3.7.0/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/importlib/__init__.py", line 127, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1006, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 983, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 953, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 219, in _call_with_frames_removed
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1006, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 983, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 965, in _find_and_load_unlocked
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'oldname'

Can someone help me with this?

The project name old or new is not there in the INSTALLED_APPS — Melissa Stewart, Oct 27 '18 at 18:06
What if you search for `oldname` in your project. Django frequently uses strings as a reference, so it is likely there are still some references that PyCharm can not find. — Willem Van Onsem, Oct 27 '18 at 18:08
what if you remove the `*.pyc` (not `*.py`) files, these are cached versions of your project. If the virtual environment is in the project folder, you need to recreate the virtual environment as well. — Willem Van Onsem, Oct 27 '18 at 18:16
Are you sure the `DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE` was updated in `manage.py`? — krubo, Oct 16 '19 at 11:43

Kushan Gunasekera · Answer 1 · 2022-05-24T19:57:07.153

I got the same error when changing my project name, the problem is that you're running the server using PyCharm, isn't it? Hopefully, you created your project using PyCharm with Django Support. First of all add the below settings to your wsgi.py, asgi.py, and manage.py files,

os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'oldname.settings')

to

os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'newname.settings')

Then go to your settings.py and change the below settings,

ROOT_URLCONF = 'oldname.urls
WSGI_APPLICATION = 'oldname.wsgi.application'

to

ROOT_URLCONF = 'newname.urls
WSGI_APPLICATION = 'newname.wsgi.application'

If you didn't get PyCharm's Django Support, this solution should be performed otherwise you will get the same error again. You can try this by using some other terminal without getting PyCharm's Django Support and running your server with python manage.py runserver command. If your project doesn't have any other errors you can see this solution is working. Then I realized something wrong with PyCharm's Django Support, the help that I have provided is only for those who are using PyCharm's Django Support.

Go to your Project and click the Edit Configuration Settings.
You can see the Environment variable still has the previous values, just click the icon in the corner to edit the DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE variable.
Then add your new project name newname, which contains the settings.py file.

That's it.

This worked like a charm, changing the project run configuration and modifying environment variable for locating settings.py is the fix for this error. Thanks @Kushan Gunasekera — Mahesh, Nov 22 '19 at 17:13
In newer versions of Django you might also need to update in `asgi.py` — Willow, May 24 '22 at 14:55
`Ctrl + shift + F` search your project name and replace with new name — Azhar Uddin Sheikh, Aug 04 '23 at 04:15

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 27 '18 at 18:53

10

make sure you change the name in settings.py , wsgi.py and manage.py

answered Oct 27 '18 at 18:53

abdullah elkasass

142
5

This is very likely the issue. Look for `DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE` in `manage.py` and `wsgi.py`, it's probably still `oldname.settings` – jaap3 Oct 27 '18 at 18:57

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 27 '18 at 18:24

3

Theres one main place where a Django app gets its app name and its in

myappname/apps.py

from django.apps import AppConfig


class StorefrontConfig(AppConfig):
    name = 'myappname'

Then in settings.py you can find

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'myappname',
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',

]

Once you change the name of your app you want to change it in settings.py and in apps.py

answered Oct 27 '18 at 18:24

Kevin Hernandez

1,270
2
19
41

At this point you have to make sure that any and all import statements that use `oldname` have been changed to whatever new name you have. The old name will be in a lot of other py files in the format of `from oldname import module`. Your traceback says its looking in installed apps make sure `oldname` is not in there anymore. – Kevin Hernandez Oct 27 '18 at 18:38
2

But, isnt this trying to solve a different problem? \n Project name vs Application name! – emanuel sanga May 31 '21 at 09:18

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 18 '18 at 13:35

1

Look inside "Run/Debug Configurations, "Environment", and under "Environment Variables". oldname might be found in one of those.

answered Dec 18 '18 at 13:35

Nicolas

374
4
18

score 1 · Answer 5 · edited Sep 30 '19 at 08:28

I have a solution with Django 2.2 working perfectly. You have renamed the old project to example django_master. Then you need to change in the list of file:

wsgi.py

import os

from django.core.wsgi import get_wsgi_application

os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'django_master.settings')

application = get_wsgi_application()

## django_master.settings

settings.py

#line 54 

ROOT_URLCONF = 'django_master.urls'

#line 72 django 2.2 default code

WSGI_APPLICATION = 'django_master.wsgi.application'

After this three change your project now run python mange.py runserver

If still not working find with old project name in project directory:

Hope it helps?

To me this solution was not enough. I also needed to change it in manage.py — Enrico, Dec 03 '19 at 19:33

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 12 '20 at 17:57

Instead of going through all the steps to change a project, just create a new one. This worked for me using PyCharm on MacOS on a project with no database configured.

Create a new directory with the new project name
In PyCharm, create a new Django project with the new project name in the directory you just created
Copy your apps over from the old project
Update the urls.py in the project directory with the changes you made in the old one. You might get away with just copying it to the project. Do a file compare to be sure
Update the settings.py with the change to made to the old one. A copy wouldn't work since the new project name is used in it
Copy over the PyCharm app preferences/file watchers. All my other PyCharm preferences settings seem to be global to all PyCharm projects.

Beside being easier to do, the method doesn't touch your existing project. If it doesn't work, just delete it.

Frederic Perron · Answer 7 · 2021-12-13T22:36:25.580

1

The best way to achieve this consist of renaming all the occurences of the project name in the wsgi.py, asgi.py, settings.py and manage.py file.

I have created a simple Python script that handles that for any project. This allows for a quick and no mistake process.

Just place the rename.py script inside the main folder of the Django project (same level as manage.py file) and run the script.

edited Dec 13 '21 at 22:36

answered Apr 18 '21 at 23:09

Frederic Perron

777
4
19

GitHub link is dead. – Kwaku Biney Dec 13 '21 at 08:25
I updated it. Thanks for reporting it! – Frederic Perron Dec 13 '21 at 22:36

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jun 15 '19 at 06:15

0

You need to also change the pycharm settings .iml and .xml references to ensure your project can read & execute manage.py tasks.

answered Jun 15 '19 at 06:15

CosmoRied

876
2
10
8

Omid Ostovari · Answer 9 · 2019-11-03T13:30:15.163

0

You can just run this command. for example if I want change old_project_name to new_project_name In the path that I am python manage.py rename old_project new new_project

edited Nov 03 '19 at 13:30

answered Nov 03 '19 at 13:25

Omid Ostovari

342
2
9

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered May 15 '20 at 13:49

0

I am using VSCode an in that I simply made a search of the name I want to change on the project level and replaced it with another name(new name I wanted)!.
It worked without a hiccup.

answered May 15 '20 at 13:49

theshubhagrwl

743
9
17

Raikumar Khangembam · Answer 11 · 2020-07-05T18:56:10.747

Same issue happened in my project. I had to change my project_old_app_name to project_new_app_name. When i change the old to new by using visual studio code replace all method.

i got this error

 ...
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
      File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 994, in _gcd_import
      File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 971, in _find_and_load
      File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 953, in _find_and_load_unlocked
    ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'project_new_app_name'

then i came to realised that i have to change the folder/directory app name of my project_old_app_name to project_new_app_name, then it work.

Note:- I got problem of not matching table name as it was named to old_app_table_name. So, In this case (i used sqlite db) i had to do python manage.py migrate and to insert data again. Or We can change all the old_app_name_tablenames to new_app_name_tablenames in sqlite browser.

ABN · Answer 12 · 2020-08-07T14:28:24.807

0

I have manually changed the project name. If that is fine then checkout my answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/63303738/9384511

edited Aug 07 '20 at 14:28

answered Aug 07 '20 at 10:12

ABN

1,024
13
26

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Nov 15 '20 at 10:35

I just had this issue when I renamed my project. Turned out that I'd renamed everything correctly. It was just that my environment had retained the old environment variable so I had to reset it.

So, for anybody finding this question that thinks they've renamed manage.py, all their settings.py, wsgi.py and asgi.py etc.:

run env | grep DJANGO, and make sure DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE is either not set at all, or set to the new value. Most likely this is your issue.

Changing a project name in django

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