================================ Django 1.3 beta 1 release notes ================================ Welcome to Django 1.3 beta 1! This is the second in a series of preview/development releases leading up to the eventual release of Django 1.3. This release is primarily targeted at developers who are interested in trying out new features and testing the Django codebase to help identify and resolve bugs prior to the final 1.3 release. As such, this release is *not* intended for production use, and any such use is discouraged. What's new in Django 1.3 beta 1 =============================== Further tweaks to the staticfiles app ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Django 1.3 ships with a new contrib app :mod:`django.contrib.staticfiles` to help developers handle the static media files (images, CSS, JavaScript, etc.) that are needed to render a complete web page. The :mod:`~django.contrib.staticfiles` app ships with the ability to automatically serve static files during development (if the :setting:`DEBUG` setting is ``True``) when using the :djadmin:`runserver` management command. Based on feedback from the community this release adds two new options to the :djadmin:`runserver` command to modify this behavior: * ``--nostatic``: prevents the :djadmin:`runserver` command from serving files completely. * ``--insecure``: enables serving of static files even if running with :setting:`DEBUG` set to False. (This is **not** recommended!) See the :doc:`staticfiles reference documentation ` for more details, or learn :doc:`how to manage static files `. Translation comments ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you would like to give translators hints about a translatable string, you can add a comment prefixed with the ``Translators`` keyword on the line preceding the string, e.g.:: def my_view(request): # Translators: This message appears on the home page only output = ugettext("Welcome to my site.") The comment will appear in the resulting .po file and should also be displayed by most translation tools. For more information, see :ref:`translator-comments`. Permissions for inactive users ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you provide a custom auth backend with ``supports_inactive_user`` set to ``True``, an inactive user model will check the backend for permissions. This is useful for further centralizing the permission handling. See the :doc:`authentication docs ` for more details. Backwards-incompatible changes in 1.3 alpha 2 ============================================= Change to admin lookup filters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Django admin has long had an undocumented "feature" allowing savvy users to manipulate the query string of changelist pages to filter the list of objects displayed. However, this also creates a security issue, as a staff user with sufficient knowledge of model structure could use this "feature" to gain access to information he or she would not normally have. As a result, changelist filtering now explicitly validates all lookup arguments in the query string, and permits only fields which are directly on the model, or relations explicitly permitted by the ``ModelAdmin`` definition. If you were relying on this undocumented feature, you will need to update your ``ModelAdmin`` definitions to whitelist the relations you choose to expose for filtering. Introduction of STATIC_URL and STATIC_ROOT settings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The newly introduced :mod:`~django.contrib.staticfiles` app -- which extends Django's abilities to handle static files for apps and projects -- required the additon of two new settings to refer to those files in templates and code, especially in contrast to the :setting:`MEDIA_URL` and :setting:`MEDIA_ROOT` settings that refer to user-uploaded files. Prior to 1.3 alpha 2 these settings were called ``STATICFILES_URL`` and ``STATICFILES_ROOT`` to follow the naming scheme for app-centric settings. Based on feedback from the community it became apparent that those settings created confusion, especially given the fact that handling static files is also desired outside the use of the optional :mod:`~django.contrib.staticfiles` app. As a result, we took the following steps to rectify the issue: * Two new global settings were added that will be used by, **but are not limited to**, the :doc:`staticfiles` app: * :setting:`STATIC_ROOT` (formally ``STATICFILES_ROOT``) * :setting:`STATIC_URL` (formally ``STATICFILES_URL``) * The ``django.contrib.staticfiles.templatetags.staticfiles.get_staticfiles_prefix`` template tag was moved to Django's core (``django.templatetags.static``) and renamed to :ttag:`get_static_prefix`. * The ``django.contrib.staticfiles.context_processors.staticfiles`` context processor was moved to Django's core (``django.core.context_processors.static``) and renamed to :func:`~django.core.context_processors.static`. * :ref:`form-media-paths` now uses :setting:`STATIC_URL` as the prefix **if the value is not None**, and falls back to the previously used :setting:`MEDIA_URL` setting otherwise. Changes to the login methods of the admin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In previous version the admin app defined login methods in multiple locations and ignored the almost identical implementation in the already used auth app. A side effect of this duplication was the missing adoption of the changes made in r12634_ to support a broader set of characters for usernames. This release refactors the admin's login mechanism to use a subclass of the :class:`~django.contrib.auth.forms.AuthenticationForm` instead of a manual form validation. The previously undocumented method ``'django.contrib.admin.sites.AdminSite.display_login_form'`` has been removed in favor of a new :attr:`~django.contrib.admin.AdminSite.login_form` attribute. .. _r12634: https://code.djangoproject.com/changeset/12634 Changes to ``USStateField`` =========================== The :mod:`django.contrib.localflavor` application contains collections of code relevant to specific countries or cultures. One such is :class:`~django.contrib.localflavor.us.models.USStateField`, which provides a field for storing the two-letter postal abbreviation of a U.S. state. This field has consistently caused problems, however, because it is often used to store the state portion of a U.S postal address, but not all "states" recognized by the U.S Postal Service are actually states of the U.S. or even U.S. territory. Several compromises over the list of choices resulted in some users feeling the field supported too many locations, while others felt it supported too few. In Django 1.3 we're taking a new approach to this problem, implemented as a pair of changes: * The choice list for `USStateField` has changed. Previously, it consisted of the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and U.S. overseas territories. As of Django 1.3 it includes all previous choices, plus the U.S. Armed Forces postal codes. * A new model field, :class:`django.contrib.localflavor.us.models.USPostalCodeField`, has been added which draws its choices from a list of all postal abbreviations recognized by the U.S Postal Service. This includes all abbreviations recognized by `USStateField`, plus three independent nations -- the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Republic of Palau -- which are serviced under treaty by the U.S. postal system. A new form widget, :class:`django.contrib.localflavor.us.forms.USPSSelect`, is also available and provides the same set of choices. Additionally, several finer-grained choice tuples are provided which allow mixing and matching of subsets of the U.S. states and territories, and other locations serviced by the U.S. postal system. Consult the :mod:`django.contrib.localflavor` documentation for more details. The change to `USStateField` is technically backwards-incompatible for users who expect this field to exclude Armed Forces locations. If you need to support U.S. mailing addresses without Armed Forces locations, see the list of choice tuples available in the localflavor documentation. The Django 1.3 roadmap ====================== Before the final Django 1.3 release, several other preview/development releases will be made available. The current schedule consists of at least the following: * Week of **January 24, 2011**: First Django 1.3 release candidate. String freeze for translations. * Week of **January 31, 2011**: Django 1.3 final release. If necessary, additional beta or release-candidate packages will be issued prior to the final 1.3 release. Django 1.3 will be released approximately one week after the final release candidate. What you can do to help ======================= In order to provide a high-quality 1.3 release, we need your help. Although this beta release is, again, *not* intended for production use, you can help the Django team by trying out the beta codebase in a safe test environment and reporting any bugs or issues you encounter. The Django ticket tracker is the central place to search for open issues: * https://code.djangoproject.com/timeline Please open new tickets if no existing ticket corresponds to a problem you're running into. Additionally, discussion of Django development, including progress toward the 1.3 release, takes place daily on the django-developers mailing list: * http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers ... and in the ``#django-dev`` IRC channel on ``irc.freenode.net``. If you're interested in helping out with Django's development, feel free to join the discussions there. Django's online documentation also includes pointers on how to contribute to Django: * :doc:`How to contribute to Django ` Contributions on any level -- developing code, writing documentation or simply triaging tickets and helping to test proposed bugfixes -- are always welcome and appreciated.