What Python version should I use with Django?

Python 3 is recommended. Django 1.11 is the last version to support Python 2.7. Support for Python 2.7 and Django 1.11 ends in 2020. Since newer versions of Python are often faster, have more features, and are better supported, the latest version of Python 3 is recommended.

You don’t lose anything in Django by using an older release, but you don’t take advantage of the improvements and optimizations in newer Python releases.

 
Installation steps

1. Install the latest version of python

a) Prepare Your System

# yum -y groupinstall development
# yum -y install zlib-devel libffi-devel

b) Download python Source Code

# cd /usr/local/src
# wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.7.3/Python-3.7.3.tgz

c) Build Python

# cd /usr/local/src
# tar xvf Python-3.7.3.tgz
# cd Python-3.7.3
# ./configure --with-ensurepip=install --enable-shared
# make
# make install

After installation please create a symlink for the shared object library by using the following command:

ln -s /usr/local/lib/libpython3.7m.so.1.0 /usr/lib64/libpython3.7m.so.1.0

Upgrade pip

pip3.7 install --upgrade pip

Note: Please note that after installation, the new python binary path will be located at /usr/local/bin/python

2. Installing Django
The recommended way to install Django is to use pip
 
Install django with the following command:

# pip3.7 install django

This will install the latest version of django.To install a particular version of django,for example version 2.0

# pip3.7 install django==2.0

To tell Django is installed and which version, run the following command in a shell prompt

# python3.7 -m django --version

You can also confirm it’s installed correctly type:

3. Installing Django in Python Virtual Enviroment
 
The steps above are for installing Django globally. However, Django can be installed into a virtualenv. Virtualenv is a tool used to create an isolated Python environment. This environment has its own installation directories that don't share libraries with other virtualenv environments (and optionally doesn't access the globally installed libraries either)
 
Installing Virtualenv using pip3

#pip3.7 install virtualenv 

3.1. You'll need the full path to the Python 3 version of virtualenv, so run the following to view it:

#which virtualenv

3.2. Navigate to your site's directory, where you'll create the new virtual environment:

#cd /home/username

3.3. Create the virtual environment while you specify the version of Python you wish to use.

The following command creates a virtualenv named 'project1' and uses the -p flag to specify the full path to the Python3 version you just installed

#virtualenv -p /usr/local/bin/python3.7 project1

This command creates a local copy of your environment specific to this website. While working on this website, you should activate the local environment in order to make sure you're working with the right versions of your tools and packages.

3.4. To activate the new virtual environment, run the following:

# source project1/bin/activate

The name of the current virtual environment appears to the left of the prompt. For example:

(project1) [root@server]#

Within the environment, install the Django package using pip. Installing Django allows us to create and run Django applications

(project1) [root@server]# pip3.7 install django

You can also install all other packages in the virtual environment that you may need in your development.

For Example, you can install mysqlclient by using the following command:

(project1) [root@server]# pip3.7 install mysqlclient

Going forward, whenever you create new Django projects you simply need to create a new virtual environment, install a fresh version of Django and other packages that may be needed.

3.5. Deactivating your virtualenv

When finished working in the virtual environment, you can deactivate it by running the following:

(project1) [root@server]# deactivate

This puts you back into your Shell user's default settings.
If you want to go back into your virtualenv, please refer to 3.4 above.

We will also be using the mod_wsgi Apache module that can communicate with Django over the WSGI interface specification.

1. Install the latest version of python and Django
Please refer to /install-django for a guide on how to install python and Django.

2. Install mod_wsgi

a) Download latest version of mod_wsgi. As of writing, the latest version was 4.6.5

# cd /usr/local/src
# wget https://github.com/GrahamDumpleton/mod_wsgi/archive/4.6.5.zip

b) Unzip and build mod-wsgi with the version of python installed in step 1 above

# cd /usr/local/src
# unzip 4.6.5.zip
# cd mod_wsgi-4.6.5
# ./configure ./configure --with-apxs=/usr/local/apache/bin/apxs --with-python=/usr/local/bin/python3.7
# make
# make install

c) Add mod_wsgi module to httpd.conf file

echo "LoadModule wsgi_module modules/mod_wsgi.so" >> /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf

d) Restart Apache

systemctl restart httpd

e)Check if mod_wsgi is loaded

/usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -M | grep wsgi

3. Setup and Configure Django

a) Create account to host Django App

With Django installed in step 1, we will create an account on CWP to host our Django application.
CWP.Admin Left Menu -> User accounts -> New Account -> fill the details and click create
Now we Create a Django project called myproj using django-admin tool in your Docroot.

# cd /home/username/public_html/
# django-admin startproject myproj .

The above commands will create a file - manage.py and a folder called myproj inside /home/username/public_html

b) Alter project settings
The first thing we should do with our newly created project files is to alter the settings.

# cd /home/username/public_html/myproj
# nano settings.py

i) Locate ALLOWED_HOSTS.Inside the square brackets, enter your server's public IP address, domain name or both. Each value should be wrapped in quotes and separated by a comma like a normal Python list:

ALLOWED_HOSTS = ["server_domain_or_IP"]
eg : ALLOWED_HOSTS = ["8.8.8.8"]

ii) At the bottom of the file, we will add a line to configure this directory. Django uses the STATIC_ROOT setting to determine static files directory, where Django will place static files so that the webserver can serve these easily.Put the following under the STATIC_URL = '/static/'

STATIC_ROOT = '/home/username/public_html/static'

Note: Please make sure the static directory is created in the location specified above.

iii) Setup MySQL Database.
CWP.user left menu –> SQL services –> MySQL Manager –> Create database and database user.
Enter the database name and the password that will be used for the user.
After creation, click on List Databases and users, you will see the database name and database user(created automatically)

Locate the Database section in the settings.py file and update it with the following.
By default, Django used SQLite, which you can use but we are using MySQL in this guide.

replace sqlite database backend

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

with Mysql database engine backend :

DATABASES = {
'default': {
'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
'NAME': 'mydatabase',
'USER': 'mydatabaseuser',
'PASSWORD': 'mypassword',
'HOST': '127.0.0.1',
}
}

Save and close the file when you are finished.

ensure you've python mysqlclient installed

pip3.7 install mysqlclient

c) Complete Initial Project Setup
Now, we can migrate the initial database schema to our mysql database using the management script:

# cd /home/username/public_html
# python3.7 manage.py  makemigrations
# python3.7 manage.py  migrate

Create an administrative user for the project by typing:

# cd /home/username/public_html
# python3.7 manage.py createsuperuser

You will have to provide a username, an email address, and choose and confirm a password.

We can collect all of the static content into the directory location we configured by running the command:

# cd /home/username/public_html
# python3.7 manage.py collectstatic

Now, you can test your project by starting up the Django development server with the following command:

# cd /home/username/public_html
# python3.7 manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000

In your web browser, visit http://server_domain_or_IP:8000 and you should see the default Django index page

4. Configure Apache and Nginx
CWP.Admin left Menu -> Webserver settings -> Webserver Domain Conf -> Select Username -> create configuration -> select the option - nginx->apache->proxy(custom port)

leave custom port as 8181 or you can change it.leave IP as 127.0.0.1, save changes.

a) Configure apache
Edit the vhost file for your domain in /usr/local/apache/conf.d/vhosts/ and add the following inside the virtual host container

WSGIScriptAlias / /home/username/public_html/myproj/wsgi.py
<Directory "/home/username/public_html/myproj">
<Files wsgi.py>
Require all granted
</Files>
</Directory>

Note : Please replace username and and project name(myproj) as per your setup as this is a guide.

Any request to Apache will execute the WSGI Script
To tell mod_wsgi how to handle the requests, modify the WSGI file located at /home/username/public_html/myproj/wsgi.py as per your setup:

import os
import sys #Add this
from django.core.wsgi import get_wsgi_application
sys.path.append('/home/username/public_html/') #Add this also
os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'myproj.settings')
application = get_wsgi_application()

b) Configure Nginx
Edit the vhost file for your domain in /etc/nginx/conf.d/vhosts/ and add the following inside the server container

location /static/ {
root /home/username/public_html/;
expires 1d;
}

c) Restart Apache and Nginx services

 systemctl restart nginx httpd

d)In your web browser, visit http://yourdomain and you should see the default Django index page.
Django is running successfully and you can continue with creating Django applications.

Install python

yum install python

Install python3

yum install python3

Check python version

python -V

Check python3 version

python3 -V

Create a test script

cd /home/USERNAME/public_html
mkdir cgi-bin
nano cgi-bin/test.py

Python2 test script in the file:
/home/USERNAME/public_html/cgi-bin/test.py

#!/usr/bin/python
# enable debugging
import cgitb
cgitb.enable()
print "Content-Type: text/plain\r\n\r\n"
print
print "Hello World!"

Python3 test script in the file:
/home/USERNAME/public_html/cgi-bin/test.py

#!/usr/bin/python3
# enable debugging
import cgitb
cgitb.enable()
print ("Content-Type: text/plain\r\n\r\n")
print
print ("Hello World!")

Update test.py file and folder cgi-bin permissions

chown -R USERNAME.USERNAME /home/USERNAME/public_html/cgi-bin
chmod +x /home/USERNAME/public_html/cgi-bin/test.py

Now create .htaccess file to handle this script.
Add this test code bellow in your file /home/USERNAME/public_html/cgi-bin/.htaccess

Options +ExecCGI
AddHandler cgi-script .py

Enable CGI
Create File: /usr/local/apache/conf.d/mod_cgid.conf

LoadModule cgid_module modules/mod_cgid.so

<IfModule cgid_module>
<Directory /home/*/public_html/cgi-bin/>
Options ExecCGI SymLinksifOwnerMatch
SetHandler cgi-script
AddHandler cgi-script .cgi .pl .py
Require all granted
AllowOverride All
</Directory>
</IfModule>

Now restart apache and you are ready to run your cgi-scripts.

service httpd restart

Test if cgid module is now loaded

/usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -M|grep cgid

Test if suexec module is now loaded

/usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -M|grep suexec

If module is loaded, you should get output containing this: suexec_module (shared)
http://wiki.centos-webpanel.com/how-to-enable-mod_suexec-with-apache

Running cgi scripts requires some security so don't forget to check this instructions
http://wiki.centos-webpanel.com/how-to-run-cgi-scripts-with-apache

Now you can run your python script by using URL

http://domain.com/cgi-bin/test.py