Auto-truncating fields at max_length in Django CharFields

Question

I have a field that has a max_length set. When I save a model instance, and the field\'s value is greater than max_length, Django enforces that

Answer 1

That seems inelegant and there must be a better way.

The only reason the truncate behavior ever happens in the first place is because of MySQL's failure to adhere to the SQL Standard. The throwing of an exception is the correct response when attempting to INSERT a string into a VARCHAR field that is not wide enough to hold it. MySQL truncates and inserts instead.

If you want to silently corrupt your data, then you'll have to do it manually somehow--PostgreSQL will never do it for you.