Easiest way to get django working on Google app engine?

Question

I am trying to convert an old app-engine-patch project to use the out-of-the-box Django in Google app engine (without the "Cloud SQL" part, because I tried to set that up and it was a pain, and also required 'enabling billing' to try it out).

Are there good docs somewhere on how to write an out-of-the-box Django app on app engine? Possibilities seem to be:

appengine-patch. Old and unsupported since 2009.
google-app-engine-django. Deprecated since 2010.
django-nonrel. No longer supported by its original authors, last check-in is months ago.
Django with Cloud SQL. As I said, a pain to set up, and requires enabling billing to try.

You would think this question or this one or this one are duplicates, but the discussion on there is so old as to be useless.

As far as I know, djangoappengine and django-nonrel are still the only (reliable) game in town... — sgress454, Aug 12 '12 at 23:29
Though yes, there are not supported anymore. I wouldn't suggest to rely on them. — Torsten Engelbrecht, Aug 13 '12 at 02:01
i wouldn't suggest to use django on appengine in the first place... — aschmid00, Aug 14 '12 at 20:17

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 14 '12 at 20:08

I encountered the same problem when I recently developed a Django app for GAE. As far as I can tell, the easiest way is to use Django nonrel. The Google App Engine Django tutorial suggests this approach.

Now the second part of your question seems more geared towards long-term support of Django nonrel. You are correct that Django nonrel is no longer being supported. It looks like Google has an article on how to use Cloud SQL with Django, but they caution that Cloud SQL is experimental and subject to change.

Based on all of this information, you are left with a few options.

Use Django nonrel with the understanding that it may not be supported in the future. It is a risk, but the easiest solution if you want to get started quickly.
Use Google's Cloud SQL with Django with the understanding that it is experimental and subject to change.
Use Django, but do not use the ORM layer. This means you cannot take advantage of Django's admin site and a lot of 3rd party tools. This is the least risky if you are worried about long-term support.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 31 '12 at 07:53

I encountered the same difficulties as you. Anyways, as django-nonrel is no longer supported I chose going for Google Cloud SQL, since it has its free trial running until June 1, 2013.

All the current tutorials are for Django-nonrel so new tutorials are missing and setting up Django for Cloud SQL is not so obvious. That's why I decided to write this tutorial myself.

Easiest way to get django working on Google app engine?

2 Answers2