"settings.DATABASES is improperly configured" error performing syncdb with django 1.4

Question

I've created a simple django 1.4 project and am trying to issue syncdb to create the (postgres) db schema. I'm getting this error :-

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "manage.py", line 10, in <module>
execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 443, in execute_from_command_line
utility.execute()
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 382, in execute
self.fetch_command(subcommand).run_from_argv(self.argv)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 196, in run_from_argv
self.execute(*args, **options.__dict__)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 232, in execute
output = self.handle(*args, **options)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 371, in handle
return self.handle_noargs(**options)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/django/core/management/commands/syncdb.py", line 57, in handle_noargs
cursor = connection.cursor()
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/django/db/backends/dummy/base.py", line 15, in complain
raise ImproperlyConfigured("settings.DATABASES is improperly configured. "
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: settings.DATABASES is improperly configured.Please supply the ENGINE value. Check settings documentation for more details.

My settings.py file looks like :-

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2', # Add 'postgresql_psycopg2', 'postgresql', 'mysql', 'sqlite3' or 'oracle'.
        'NAME': 'test',                      # Or path to database file if using sqlite3.
        'USER': 'test',                      # Not used with sqlite3.
        'PASSWORD': 'test',                  # Not used with sqlite3.
        'HOST': '',                      # Set to empty string for localhost. Not used with sqlite3.
        'PORT': '',                      # Set to empty string for default. Not used with sqlite3.
     }
}

I can connect to the database using psql OK - any ideas ? Thanks in advance !

Answer 1

It might be that django is not accessing the settings.py file you think it uses. Try explicitly point django to your settings file by using --settings

./manage.py --settings=nameofproject.settings runserver/syncdb

If this works then, you'll have to figure out why django is importing the wrong settings file.

Have you upgraded from 1.3 to 1.4 by accident ?