/media/image.jpg loads only when Debug = True

anjanesh

I just noticed that,

When Debug = False in settings.py
https://my-domain.com/media/product/images/MBP132020.jpg returns 404

When Debug = True
https://my-domain.com/media/product/images/MBP132020.jpg loads !

I have in my settings.py :

MEDIA_URL = '/media/'
MEDIA_ROOT = BASE_DIR / 'media'

How is this happening ?

sean

anjanesh

~~MEDIA_ROOT = BASE_DIR / 'media' is not valid Python so I'm not even sure how your app can be running.~~

~~I think the setting you want is probably more like this: MEDIA_ROOT = BASE_DIR + '/media/'~~

~~If that doesn't work then try using the full path instead of a computed path, eg: MEDIA_ROOT = '/home/user/apps/appname/path/to/media/'~~

I also recommend that you use a static symlink app to serve media files, instead of serving them directly from Django. This will make your app faster and will reduce its memory usage. If you want to do that:

Create a new Nginx static symlink app at https://my.opalstack.com/apps/ pointing to '/home/user/apps/appname/path/to/media/'
Route that app to your site at https://my.opalstack.com/domains/ with /media as the URI path.

sean

anjanesh I think I stand corrected regarding the syntax in your settings. I guess BASE_DIR isn't a string but instead a PosixPath object.

I'll follow up again when I have more info.

sean

anjanesh

Please revert to your original settings, then take the steps to create the media symlink app and route that I described in my previous reply.

I believe your media links will begin working after you do so.

anjanesh

But .... how is the media image loading when Debug = True ? Isn't a bit strange that it returns 404 only when Debug = False ?

sean

anjanesh The behavior you noticed is by design. Django is not designed to serve its own static media on production sites.

I'm not 100% certain but I think the code responsible for this behavior is here:

https://github.com/django/django/blob/main/django/contrib/staticfiles/views.py:

if not settings.DEBUG and not insecure:
    raise Http404

Parthian

@sean - can this media handling process be added to the docs at https://docs.opalstack.com/topic-guides/django/#serving-static-content-for-your-django-project ?

I had a problem with Django and Mezzanine where my media browser wasn't showing thumbnails in the Admin and when clicked the images had / appended ie. path/image.jpg/ which failed to meet any url path and so 404'd.

Hunch suggested Django was handling media and the extra route as suggested above fixed it.

sean

Parthian sure, we'll get that added soon.