Fixed #21874 -- Require Django applications to have a filesystem path.

Wherever possible this filesystem path is derived automatically from the app
module's ``__path__`` and ``__file__`` attributes (this avoids any
backwards-compatibility problems).

AppConfig allows specifying an app's filesystem location explicitly, which
overrides all autodetection based on ``__path__`` and ``__file__``. This
permits Django to support any type of module as an app (namespace packages,
fake modules, modules loaded by other hypothetical non-filesystem module
loaders), as long as the app is configured with an explicit filesystem path.

Thanks Aymeric for review and discussion.

django/apps/config.py

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from importlib import import_module
+import os
 
 from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
 from django.utils.module_loading import module_has_submodule
@@ -34,23 +35,10 @@ class AppConfig(object):
             self.verbose_name = self.label.title()
 
         # Filesystem path to the application directory eg.
-        # u'/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/contrib/admin'. May be
-        # None if the application isn't a bona fide package eg. if it's an
-        # egg. Otherwise it's a unicode on Python 2 and a str on Python 3.
+        # u'/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/contrib/admin'. Unicode on
+        # Python 2 and a str on Python 3.
         if not hasattr(self, 'path'):
-            try:
-                paths = app_module.__path__
-            except AttributeError:
-                self.path = None
-            else:
-                # Convert paths to list because Python 3.3 _NamespacePath does
-                # not support indexing.
-                paths = list(paths)
-                if len(paths) > 1:
-                    raise ImproperlyConfigured(
-                        "The namespace package app %r has multiple locations, "
-                        "which is not supported: %r" % (app_name, paths))
-                self.path = upath(paths[0])
+            self.path = self._path_from_module(app_module)
 
         # Module containing models eg. <module 'django.contrib.admin.models'
         # from 'django/contrib/admin/models.pyc'>. Set by import_models().
@@ -64,6 +52,29 @@ class AppConfig(object):
     def __repr__(self):
         return '<%s: %s>' % (self.__class__.__name__, self.label)
 
+    def _path_from_module(self, module):
+        """Attempt to determine app's filesystem path from its module."""
+        # See #21874 for extended discussion of the behavior of this method in
+        # various cases.
+        # Convert paths to list because Python 3.3 _NamespacePath does not
+        # support indexing.
+        paths = list(getattr(module, '__path__', []))
+        if len(paths) != 1:
+            filename = getattr(module, '__file__', None)
+            if filename is not None:
+                paths = [os.path.dirname(filename)]
+        if len(paths) > 1:
+            raise ImproperlyConfigured(
+                "The app module %r has multiple filesystem locations (%r); "
+                "you must configure this app with an AppConfig subclass "
+                "with a 'path' class attribute." % (module, paths))
+        elif not paths:
+            raise ImproperlyConfigured(
+                "The app module %r has no filesystem location, "
+                "you must configure this app with an AppConfig subclass "
+                "with a 'path' class attribute." % (module,))
+        return upath(paths[0])
+
     @classmethod
     def create(cls, entry):
         """

django/db/migrations/state.py

@@ -73,8 +73,11 @@ class ProjectState(object):
 
 class AppConfigStub(AppConfig):
     """
-    Stubs a Django AppConfig. Only provides a label and a dict of models.
+    Stubs a Django AppConfig. Only provides a label, and a dict of models.
     """
+    # Not used, but required by AppConfig.__init__
+    path = ''
+
     def __init__(self, label):
         super(AppConfigStub, self).__init__(label, None)
 

docs/ref/applications.txt

@@ -171,8 +171,6 @@ Configurable attributes
     required; for instance if the app package is a `namespace package`_ with
     multiple paths.
 
-    It may be ``None`` if the application isn't stored in a directory.
-
 Read-only attributes
 --------------------
 

tests/apps/tests.py

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import os
 import sys
 from unittest import skipUnless
 
-from django.apps import apps
+from django.apps import apps, AppConfig
 from django.apps.registry import Apps
 from django.contrib.admin.models import LogEntry
 from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
@@ -201,6 +201,71 @@ class AppsTests(TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(new_apps.get_model("apps", "SouthPonies"), temp_model)
 
 
+class Stub(object):
+    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
+        self.__dict__.update(kwargs)
+
+
+class AppConfigTests(TestCase):
+    """Unit tests for AppConfig class."""
+    def test_path_set_explicitly(self):
+        """If subclass sets path as class attr, no module attributes needed."""
+        class MyAppConfig(AppConfig):
+            path = 'foo'
+
+        ac = MyAppConfig('label', Stub())
+
+        self.assertEqual(ac.path, 'foo')
+
+    def test_explicit_path_overrides(self):
+        """If path set as class attr, overrides __path__ and __file__."""
+        class MyAppConfig(AppConfig):
+            path = 'foo'
+
+        ac = MyAppConfig('label', Stub(__path__=['a'], __file__='b/__init__.py'))
+
+        self.assertEqual(ac.path, 'foo')
+
+    def test_dunder_path(self):
+        """If single element in __path__, use it (in preference to __file__)."""
+        ac = AppConfig('label', Stub(__path__=['a'], __file__='b/__init__.py'))
+
+        self.assertEqual(ac.path, 'a')
+
+    def test_no_dunder_path_fallback_to_dunder_file(self):
+        """If there is no __path__ attr, use __file__."""
+        ac = AppConfig('label', Stub(__file__='b/__init__.py'))
+
+        self.assertEqual(ac.path, 'b')
+
+    def test_empty_dunder_path_fallback_to_dunder_file(self):
+        """If the __path__ attr is empty, use __file__ if set."""
+        ac = AppConfig('label', Stub(__path__=[], __file__='b/__init__.py'))
+
+        self.assertEqual(ac.path, 'b')
+
+    def test_multiple_dunder_path_fallback_to_dunder_file(self):
+        """If the __path__ attr is length>1, use __file__ if set."""
+        ac = AppConfig('label', Stub(__path__=['a', 'b'], __file__='c/__init__.py'))
+
+        self.assertEqual(ac.path, 'c')
+
+    def test_no_dunder_path_or_dunder_file(self):
+        """If there is no __path__ or __file__, raise ImproperlyConfigured."""
+        with self.assertRaises(ImproperlyConfigured):
+            AppConfig('label', Stub())
+
+    def test_empty_dunder_path_no_dunder_file(self):
+        """If the __path__ attr is empty and there is no __file__, raise."""
+        with self.assertRaises(ImproperlyConfigured):
+            AppConfig('label', Stub(__path__=[]))
+
+    def test_multiple_dunder_path_no_dunder_file(self):
+        """If the __path__ attr is length>1 and there is no __file__, raise."""
+        with self.assertRaises(ImproperlyConfigured):
+            AppConfig('label', Stub(__path__=['a', 'b']))
+
+
 @skipUnless(
     sys.version_info > (3, 3, 0),
     "Namespace packages sans __init__.py were added in Python 3.3")

tests/template_tests/test_loaders.py

@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ def create_egg(name, resources):
     """
     egg = types.ModuleType(name)
     egg.__loader__ = MockLoader()
+    egg.__path__ = ['/some/bogus/path/']
+    egg.__file__ = '/some/bogus/path/__init__.pyc'
     egg._resources = resources
     sys.modules[name] = egg
 
@@ -68,6 +70,9 @@ class EggLoaderTest(TestCase):
             def _get(self, path):
                 return self.module._resources[path].read()
 
+            def _fn(self, base, resource_name):
+                return resource_name
+
         pkg_resources._provider_factories[MockLoader] = MockProvider
 
         self.empty_egg = create_egg("egg_empty", {})