Django 1.5b1: executing django-admin.py causes "No module named settings" error

Question

I've recently installed Django-1.5b1. My system configuration:

• OSX 10.8
• Python 2.7.1
• Virtualenv 1.7.2

When I call django-admin.py command I get the following error

(devel)ninja Django-1.5b1: django-admin.py 
Usage: django-admin.py subcommand [options] [args]

Options:
  -v VERBOSITY, --verbosity=VERBOSITY
                        Verbosity level; 0=minimal output, 1=normal output,
                        2=verbose output, 3=very verbose output
  --settings=SETTINGS   The Python path to a settings module, e.g.
                        "myproject.settings.main". If this isn't provided, the
                        DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE environment variable will be
                        used.
  --pythonpath=PYTHONPATH
                        A directory to add to the Python path, e.g.
                        "/home/djangoprojects/myproject".
  --traceback           Print traceback on exception
  --version             show program's version number and exit
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/sultan/.virtualenvs/devel/bin/django-admin.py", line 5, in <module>
    management.execute_from_command_line()
  File "/Users/sultan/.virtualenvs/devel/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 452, in execute_from_command_line
    utility.execute()
  File "/Users/sultan/.virtualenvs/devel/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 375, in execute
    sys.stdout.write(self.main_help_text() + '\n')
  File "/Users/sultan/.virtualenvs/devel/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 241, in main_help_text
    for name, app in six.iteritems(get_commands()):
  File "/Users/sultan/.virtualenvs/devel/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 108, in get_commands
    apps = settings.INSTALLED_APPS
  File "/Users/sultan/.virtualenvs/devel/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/conf/__init__.py", line 52, in __getattr__
    self._setup(name)
  File "/Users/sultan/.virtualenvs/devel/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/conf/__init__.py", line 47, in _setup
    self._wrapped = Settings(settings_module)
  File "/Users/sultan/.virtualenvs/devel/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/conf/__init__.py", line 132, in __init__
    raise ImportError("Could not import settings '%s' (Is it on sys.path?): %s" % (self.SETTINGS_MODULE, e))
ImportError: Could not import settings 'settings' (Is it on sys.path?): No module named settings

Did anyone have the same errors? Can anyone advise or help with it?

Thanks,

Sultan

Answer 1

I had the same issue when starting a new project. I solved the problem by giving this command at the command prompt:

export DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=

in this way I unset the variable that was pointing to a "settings" file (discovered using env | grep DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE) I set before starting using virtualenv

after unsetting the variable the django-admin.py script worked like a charm!