Django fixture fails, stating “DatabaseError: value too long for type character varying(50)”

Question

I have a fixture (json) which loads in development environment but fails to do so in server environment. The error says: \"DatabaseError: value too long for type chara

Answer 1

You can make Django use longer fields for this model by monkey-patching the model prior to using it to create the database tables. In "manage.py", change:

if __name__ == "__main__":
    execute_manager(settings)

to:

from django.contrib.auth.models import Permission
if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Patch the field width to allow for our long model names
    Permission._meta.get_field('name').max_length=200
    Permission._meta.get_field('codename').max_length=200
    execute_manager(settings)

This modifies the options on the field before (say) manage.py syncdb is run, so the databate table has nice wide varchar() fields. You don't need to do this when invoking your app, as you never attempt to modify the Permissions table whle running.