Explain how to load initial data with a data migration

[Vaibhav Tulsyan]

Django 1.8's documentation states that fixtures are deprecated for loading initial data to models. However, Django 1.10 doesn't state anything about the deprecation.
Can more clarity be given on as to how initial data should ideally be loaded into models?

Links:
1.10: ​https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.10/howto/initial-data/
1.8: ​https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/howto/initial-data/

[Tim Graham]

Is the deprecation note and the explanation in the 1.7 release notes unclear?

If an application uses migrations, there is no automatic loading of fixtures. Since migrations will be required for applications in Django 1.9, this behavior is considered deprecated. If you want to load initial data for an app, consider doing it in a data migration.

initial_data fixtures are no longer loaded for apps with migrations; if you want to load initial data for an app, we suggest you create a migration for your application and define a RunPython or RunSQL operation in the operations section of the migration.

manage.py loaddata <fixturename> still works fine but it doesn't happen automatically. #24778 is a ticket about possibly allowing migrations to load fixtures.

Maybe you could propose a documentation clarification as I'm not exactly sure what would be helpful to clarify your doubt.

[Krzysztof Żuraw]

​PR.

[Tim Graham]

Hi, you shouldn't mark your own patch "Ready for Checkin", rather a separate reviewer should do that.

[Marysia Lowas-Rzechonek]

Reviewed - it looks fine.

[Tim Graham <timograham@…>]

In eaa6ea2f:

Fixed #27133 -- Doc'd how to provide initial data with migrations.

[Tim Graham <timograham@…>]

In 07db0e0:

[1.10.x] Fixed #27133 -- Doc'd how to provide initial data with migrations.

Backport of eaa6ea2f37509f2e54de5268f32469deeff89eb9 from master