Misleading/incorrect docs about RunPython and transactions

[Luca Corti]

As per #23932, I added an UUIDField to a model following the documentation at ​https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/howto/writing-migrations/. The database is PostgreSQL.

When running the migration I get this error:

  File "manage.py", line 10, in <module>
    execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
  File "venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 338, in execute_from_command_line
    utility.execute()
  File "venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 330, in execute
    self.fetch_command(subcommand).run_from_argv(self.argv)
  File "venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 390, in run_from_argv
    self.execute(*args, **cmd_options)
  File "venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 441, in execute
    output = self.handle(*args, **options)
  File "venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/commands/migrate.py", line 221, in handle
    executor.migrate(targets, plan, fake=fake, fake_initial=fake_initial)
  File "venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/migrations/executor.py", line 110, in migrate
    self.apply_migration(states[migration], migration, fake=fake, fake_initial=fake_initial)
  File "venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/migrations/executor.py", line 147, in apply_migration
    state = migration.apply(state, schema_editor)
  File "venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/migrations/migration.py", line 115, in apply
    operation.database_forwards(self.app_label, schema_editor, old_state, project_state)
  File "venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/migrations/operations/fields.py", line 201, in database_forwards
    schema_editor.alter_field(from_model, from_field, to_field)
  File "venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/base/schema.py", line 484, in alter_field
    old_db_params, new_db_params, strict)
  File "venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/base/schema.py", line 637, in _alter_field
    params,
  File "venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/base/schema.py", line 107, in execute
    cursor.execute(sql, params)
  File "venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/utils.py", line 79, in execute
    return super(CursorDebugWrapper, self).execute(sql, params)
  File "venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/utils.py", line 64, in execute
    return self.cursor.execute(sql, params)
  File "venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/utils.py", line 97, in __exit__
    six.reraise(dj_exc_type, dj_exc_value, traceback)
  File "venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/utils.py", line 64, in execute
    return self.cursor.execute(sql, params)
django.db.utils.OperationalError: cannot ALTER TABLE "mytable" because it has pending trigger events

[Kévin Etienne]

I've run into what I believe the same issue with Django 1.7.x. I have a model where I wanted to add and remove a new field.

The migration had 3 operations:

• add a new field
• migrate the data
• and remove the old field.

...
    operations = [
        migrations.AddField(
            model_name='model',
            name='new_field',
            field=models.BooleanField(default=False),
            preserve_default=True,
        ),
        migrations.RunPython(
            populate_new_field,
            populate_old_field,
        ),
        migrations.RemoveField(
            model_name='model',
            name='old_field',
        ),
    ]

The stacktrace looks exactly the same as quote in the original description. Not sure if this is a behavior expected from Django or not. ​The documentation on 1.7 and 1.8 states that RunPython should run into its own transaction.

This is happening when the table has already some data but not when the table is empty.

[KwonHan Bae]

your database is postgresql?

[priidukull]

I tried to reproduce the bug (as explained by KevinEtienne) with Python 2.7 and Django 1.7/1.8. Did not manage to reproduce the issue. I used the following migrations.

0001_initial.py:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from __future__ import unicode_literals

from django.db import models, migrations


class Migration(migrations.Migration):

    dependencies = [
    ]

    operations = [
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name='Choice',
            fields=[
                ('id', models.AutoField(verbose_name='ID', serialize=False, auto_created=True, primary_key=True)),
                ('choice_text', models.CharField(max_length=200)),
                ('votes', models.IntegerField(default=0)),
            ],
        ),
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name='Question',
            fields=[
                ('id', models.AutoField(verbose_name='ID', serialize=False, auto_created=True, primary_key=True)),
                ('question_text', models.CharField(max_length=200)),
                ('pub_date', models.DateTimeField(verbose_name=b'date published')),
            ],
        ),
        migrations.AddField(
            model_name='choice',
            name='question',
            field=models.ForeignKey(to='polls.Question'),
        ),
    ]

0002_second.py:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from __future__ import unicode_literals
import random

from django.db import migrations


def populate_old_field(apps, schema_editor):
    Question = apps.get_model('polls', 'Question')
    for i in range(1, 100):
        q = Question(i, random.getrandbits(128), '2015-09-09')
        q.save()


class Migration(migrations.Migration):

    dependencies = [
        ('polls', '0001_initial'),
    ]

    operations = [
        migrations.RunPython(
            populate_old_field
        ),
    ]

0003_third.py:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from __future__ import unicode_literals

from django.db import models, migrations


def populate_new_field(apps, schema_editor):
    Question = apps.get_model('polls', 'Question')
    for q in Question.objects.all():
        q.question_text_new = q.question_text
        q.save()


class Migration(migrations.Migration):

    dependencies = [
        ('polls', '0002_second'),
    ]

    operations = [
        migrations.AddField(
            model_name='question',
            name='question_text_new',
            field=models.CharField(max_length=300, null=True),
        ),
        migrations.RunPython(
            populate_new_field,
        ),
        migrations.RemoveField(
            model_name='question',
            name='question_text',
        ),
    ]

[ollanta]

Hi, I've stumbled across this issue as well.
I'm not getting the error with your example either priidukull, so I reduced the code I had to a small example that still exhibits the bug (in both django 1.7 and 1.8, but only in psql, not sqlite)

0001_initial.py :

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from __future__ import unicode_literals

from django.db import models, migrations
from django.conf import settings


class Migration(migrations.Migration):

    dependencies = []

    operations = [
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name='Parent',
            fields=[
                ('id', models.AutoField(verbose_name='ID', serialize=False, auto_created=True, primary_key=True)),
            ],
        ),
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name='Child',
            fields=[
                ('id', models.AutoField(verbose_name='ID', serialize=False, auto_created=True, primary_key=True)),
                ('boolfield', models.BooleanField(default=True)),
                ('parent', models.ForeignKey(to='example.Parent')),
            ],
        ),

    ]

0002_add_data.py:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from __future__ import unicode_literals

from django.db import models, migrations


def add_data(apps, schema_editor):
    Parent = apps.get_model("example", "Parent")
    p = Parent(1)
    p.save()

    Child = apps.get_model("example", "Child")
    c = Child(1, parent=p, boolfield=True)
    c.save()


class Migration(migrations.Migration):

    dependencies = [
        ('example', '0001_initial'),
    ]

    operations = [
        migrations.RunPython(
            add_data
        )
    ]

0003_change_field_type.py:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from __future__ import unicode_literals

from django.db import models, migrations


def convert_field(apps, schema_editor):
    Child = apps.get_model("example", "Child")
    for c in Child.objects.all():
        c.textchoicefield = 'true' if c.boolfield else 'false'
        c.save()


class Migration(migrations.Migration):

    dependencies = [
        ('example', '0002_add_data'),
    ]

    operations = [
        migrations.AddField(
            model_name='child',
            name='textchoicefield',
            field=models.TextField(default=b'none', choices=[(b'true', b'True'), (b'false', b'False'), (b'none', b'None')]),
            preserve_default=True,
        ),
        migrations.RunPython(convert_field),
        migrations.RemoveField(
            model_name='child',
            name='boolfield',
        ),
    ]

If I move RemoveField out of the last migration and into its own, it all works fine.

[Tim Graham]

It seems to me that the documentation that says, "By default, RunPython will run its contents inside a transaction" is misleading (added in 5a917cfef319df33ca30a3b27bd0b0533b8e63bb).

Each *migration* is run in its own transaction (if the database backend has can_rollback_ddl = True) because we use ​a SchemaEditor context manager when applying each migration, which ​creates a transaction.

I'm not sure we can make any changes code-wise to support mixing schema changes and RunPython operations in the same migration, but we should correct the documentation for current version of Django anyway.

Docs to fix:

• The second example migration needs to be split into at least two migrations. ​https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/howto/writing-migrations/#migrations-that-add-unique-fields
• "By default, RunPython will run its contents..." ​https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/ref/migration-operations/#runpython

[Tim Graham]

​PR

[Tim Graham <timograham@…>]

In 307acc7:

Fixed #24630 -- Clarified docs about RunPython transactions.

Thanks Markus Holtermann for review.

[Tim Graham <timograham@…>]

In cc4ee062:

[1.8.x] Fixed #24630 -- Clarified docs about RunPython transactions.

Thanks Markus Holtermann for review.

Backport of 307acc745a4e655c35db96f96ceb4b87597dee49 from master