Replacing a Django image doesn't delete original

Question

In Django, if you have a ImageFile in a model, deleting will remove the associated file from disk as well as removing the record from the database.

Shouldn\'t replac

Answer 1

Here is a code that can work with or without upload_to=... or blank=True, and when the submitted file has the same name as the old one.

(py3 syntax, tested on Django 1.7)

class Attachment(models.Model):

    document = models.FileField(...)  # or ImageField

    def delete(self, *args, **kwargs):
        self.document.delete(save=False)
        super().delete(*args, **kwargs)

    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
        if self.pk:
            old = self.__class__._default_manager.get(pk=self.pk)
            if old.document.name and (not self.document._committed or not self.document.name):
                old.document.delete(save=False)
        super().save(*args, **kwargs)

Remember that this kind of solution is only applicable if you are in a non transactional context (no rollback, because the file is definitively lost)

Answer 2

If you don't use transactions or you don't afraid of loosing files on transaction rollback, you can use django-cleanup

Answer 3

Shouldn't replacing an image also remove the unneeded file from disk?

In the olden days, FileField was eager to clean up orphaned files. But that changed in Django 1.2:

In earlier Django versions, when a model instance containing a FileField was deleted, FileField took it upon itself to also delete the file from the backend storage. This opened the door to several potentially serious data-loss scenarios, including rolled-back transactions and fields on different models referencing the same file. In Django 1.2.5, FileField will never delete files from the backend storage.

Answer 4

I save the original file and if it has changed - delete it.

class Document(models.Model):
    document = FileField()

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        self._document = self.document

    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
        if self.document != self._document:
            self._document.delete()
            super().save(*args, **kwargs)

Answer 5

There have been a number of tickets regarding this issue though it is likely this will not make it into the core. The most comprehensive is http://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/11663. The patches and ticket comments can give you some direction if you are looking for a solution.

You can also consider using a different StorageBackend such as the Overwrite File Storage System given by Django snippet 976. http://djangosnippets.org/snippets/976/. You can change your default storage to this backend or you can override it on each FileField/ImageField declaration.

Answer 6

I used a simple method with popen, so when i save my Info model i delete the former file before linking to the new:

import os

try:
    os.popen("rm %s" % str(info.photo.path))
except:
    #deal with error
    pass
info.photo = nd['photo']