How do you configure a Django ImageField with uplo

Question

I have the following model field in a django project:

headshot = models.ImageField(upload_to='/tmp', blank=True, null=True)

settings.py

# format                                    <project>/<app>
MEDIA_ROOT = '/home/username/webapps/django/myproject/books/media/'

I have created a directory: /home/username/webapps/django/myproject/books/media/tmp and gave it chmod 777 permissions.

I get the following error when I try to add a new image:

SuspiciousOperation at /admin/books/author/add/
Attempted access to '/tmp/Comment.png' denied.
Request Method: POST
Request URL:    http://username.webfactional.com/app/admin/books/author/add/
Django Version: 1.3.1
Exception Type: SuspiciousOperation
Exception Value:    
Attempted access to '/tmp/Comment.png' denied.
Exception Location: /home/username/webapps/django/lib/python2.7/django/core/files/storage.py in path, line 234
Python Executable:  /usr/local/bin/python
Python Version: 2.7.1

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Do I need .htaccess or some other settings to be able to write to this directory or is there something wrong with my Django config?

I would still like to know what chmod values to use and how to set MEDIA_URL. I'm thinking I might need to do something in urls.py for MEDIA_URL.

My project is set up on the webhost Webfaction if that makes a difference.

Answer 1

I see you've marked this as answered, but still have some questions in your answer. Here is how I have this set up, in case you are still working on it.

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Set up a new app for media (via the webfaction control panel). I used the "static_only" application because it should prevent users from uploading scripts and running them. You could also use one of the "static/cgi/php". Creating a new app for this (instead of using Django and making a new view) is good practice because it will have a lower resource overheard. Django is overkill for serving static files (images, css files, javascript files, etc.).

Bind your new media (static_only, or whatever you used) app to some URL, again using the webfaction control panel. I bound mine to media..com. MEDIA_URL should be set to the URL you can access your media through, and MEDIA_ROOT should be the root directory for the media app. Thus, in my settings.py file I have:

MEDIA_ROOT = '/home/<username>/webapps/media/'
MEDIA_URL = 'http://media.<mydomain>.com/'

It's best to do the same thing for STATIC_ROOT and STATIC_URL.

As far as permissions go, the defaults should be OK - if you have troubles with that just ask.

Answer 2

Fixed it. Seems like the answer was to use upload_to='tmp' instead of upload_to='/tmp'.