1.7a1 - Migration syntax error

[caulagi]

I am using the following (simplified) model that doesn't migrate using the new migrations in Django 1.7a1 -

$
$ pip freeze
Django==1.7a1
argparse==1.2.1
distribute==0.6.34
wsgiref==0.1.2
$
$ cat blog/models.py
from django.db import models
from django.utils import timezone

class Blog(models.Model):

    title = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    created = models.DateTimeField(default=timezone.now())

    def __unicode__(self):
        return self.title

$
$ python manage.py makemigrations
Migrations for 'blog':
  0001_initial.py:
    - Create model Blog
$
$ python manage.py migrate
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "manage.py", line 10, in <module>
    execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
  File "/home/pcaulagi/projects/test/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/Django-1.7a1-py2.7.egg/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 427, in execute_from_command_line
    utility.execute()
  File "/home/pcaulagi/projects/test/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/Django-1.7a1-py2.7.egg/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 419, in execute
    self.fetch_command(subcommand).run_from_argv(self.argv)
  File "/home/pcaulagi/projects/test/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/Django-1.7a1-py2.7.egg/django/core/management/base.py", line 288, in run_from_argv
    self.execute(*args, **options.__dict__)
  File "/home/pcaulagi/projects/test/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/Django-1.7a1-py2.7.egg/django/core/management/base.py", line 337, in execute
    output = self.handle(*args, **options)
  File "/home/pcaulagi/projects/test/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/Django-1.7a1-py2.7.egg/django/core/management/commands/migrate.py", line 62, in handle
    executor = MigrationExecutor(connection, self.migration_progress_callback)
  File "/home/pcaulagi/projects/test/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/Django-1.7a1-py2.7.egg/django/db/migrations/executor.py", line 14, in __init__
    self.loader = MigrationLoader(self.connection)
  File "/home/pcaulagi/projects/test/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/Django-1.7a1-py2.7.egg/django/db/migrations/loader.py", line 48, in __init__
    self.build_graph()
  File "/home/pcaulagi/projects/test/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/Django-1.7a1-py2.7.egg/django/db/migrations/loader.py", line 145, in build_graph
    self.load_disk()
  File "/home/pcaulagi/projects/test/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/Django-1.7a1-py2.7.egg/django/db/migrations/loader.py", line 103, in load_disk
    migration_module = import_module("%s.%s" % (module_name, migration_name))
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/importlib/__init__.py", line 37, in import_module
    __import__(name)
  File "/tmp/bar/blog/migrations/0001_initial.py", line 17
    ('created', models.DateTimeField(default=datetime.datetime(2014, 2, 4, 9, 15, 59, 685251, tzinfo=<UTC>))),

                              ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
$
$

We have had an initial discussion on django-users - ​https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/django-users/5ryEZd7I1t8

[loic84]

Hi @caulagi, the problem is that you are not using a callable for the default value of created but an actual datetime object.

Try created = models.DateTimeField(default=timezone.now) instead; notice the missing parentheses after "timezone.now".

[Russell Keith-Magee]

@loic84 - he may well be advised to use datetime.now, but that doesn't change the fact that using datetime.now() is a valid value for a default. It's an unusual value, to be sure, but it is a *valid* value. Off the top of my head, one possible use case would be to set up a membership model where memberships start Jan 1 2014, unless otherwise specified.