Django App Getting Server Error 500 On Local Host When Debug = False

My django app works properly (without any errors) when Debug = True in settings.py, but when I switch it to Debug = False I get Server Error (500). Plus I get: The character encod

Solution 1:

When you set DEBUG=False Django doesn't handle your static files anymore. The idea behind is that you need to setup a proper production system. I think you are using Heroku, so I attached here a (tested) configuration for your production settings file (I suggest you to create a dedicated file for prod settings, like in the example below).

settings.py:

BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
# and here the rest of your local settings
# ...

WSGI_APPLICATION = 'your-app-name.wsgi.application'

# Database
DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),
    }
}

# Password validation
AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = []

# Static files configuration
STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'staticfiles')
STATIC_URL = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static/')
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
    os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static'),
)

STATICFILES_FINDERS = (
    'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder',
)

# ...

# Loading test/prod settings based on ENV settings
ENV = os.environ.get('ENV')

if ENV == 'prod':
    try:
        from .production_settings import *
        MIDDLEWARE.append('whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware',)
    except ImportError:
        pass

production_settings.py (for Heroku):

import os

DEBUG = False

SECRET_KEY = os.environ.get('SECRET_KEY')

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
        'NAME': os.environ.get('DB_NAME'),
        'USER': os.environ.get('DB_USER'),
        'PASSWORD': os.environ.get('DB_PASSWORD'),
        'HOST': os.environ.get('DB_HOST'),
        'PORT': '5432',
    }
}

# Password validation (I removed them in the local settings)
AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = [
    {'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.UserAttributeSimilarityValidator'},
    {'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.MinimumLengthValidator'},
    {'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.CommonPasswordValidator'},
    {'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.NumericPasswordValidator'},
]

ALLOWED_HOSTS = (
    'your-app-name.herokuapp.com',
    'localhost',
)

EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend'

SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT = True
SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER = ('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO', 'https')
CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE = True
SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE = True

Your wsgi.py file is already ok. Make sure you have the Procfile, the requirements.txt file and you set your env var under the "Config Vars" section on Heroku dashboar (dashboard.heroku.com/your-app-name/axdos/settings). Here you need to set SECRET_KEY, DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, DB_HOST and finally ENV (this env needs to be equal to prod). You can find the db credentials under the dashboard.heroku.com/your-app-name/axdos/resources.

Solution 2:

after adding add WhiteNoise to the MIDDLEWARE

MIDDLEWARE = [
  # 'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
  'whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware',
  # ...
]

execute this command

python manage.py collectstatic --noinput