django-app-template

This is a template for creating a new reusable application for Django. This uses the template feature added to the startapp command in Django 1.4. While creating the app requires using Django 1.4 you can choose to support earlier versions once it has been created.

To start a new app with this template::

# Install Django
pip install django>=1.4
# Clone the repo
git clone git://github.com/mlavin/django-app-template.git
# Use the template
django-admin.py startapp --template=django-app-template/template --extension=py,rst,in <app_name>

What Does This Give You

This template is indended to be used for a reusable application developed outside of a Django project. Beyond the standard <app_name>/__init__.py, <app_name>/models.py, <app_name>/tests.py and <app_name>/views.py this template will create:

• README.rst - Some minor layout to get you started
• setup.py - A starting point for packaging your app
• MANIFEST.in - Includes your app templates and static resources
• AUTHORS - Add your name here
• LICENSE - Add a license here
• runtests.py - Simple helper for running the application tests
• tox.ini - Configured to run tests on Django 1.3/1.4/master on Python 2.6
• .gitignore/.hgignore - Just to save you a few key strokes

What To Do Next

This template gives you a good starting point for your application layout but there are still some pieces of information to fill out:

• Write your app and tests
• Fill in the <app_name>/__init__.py doc string and __version__
• Pick a license and add author names
• Write a more complete README
• Adjust the meta information in the setup.py

You should also consider using Sphinx <http://sphinx.pocoo.org/>_ to create a more complete set of documentation. For than you can install Sphinx and run the quickstart::

# Install Sphinx
pip install sphinx
# Run the quickstart to create docs in docs/
# Most other default answers should be fine
sphinx-quickstart

When you are ready to upload your app to the Python Package Index (PyPi) you can do that using the setup.py created with this template::

# Register you package name and meta data (This is done once)
python setup.py register
# Create a release and upload it (This is done with every new version)
python setup.py sdist upload

License Info

The template itself is available under the "Simplified" BSD license and can be freely modified under the terms of that license. You can see the full license text <https://github.com/mlavin/django-app-template/blob/master/LICENSE>_
in the Github repository for additional detail.

Applications created using this template are not considered derivatives works. Applications created using this template can be freely licensed under whatever you as the author chooses. They may be either open or closed source.

If you are creating an open source application and need some direction on available open source licenses for your new application, you can find information on the Open Source Initiative (OSI) <http://opensource.org/licenses/category>_ website.

Contributing

Remember if these defaults don't work for you then you can always create a fork and update them to fit your own needs. If you have found a bug or have a suggestion for an improvement which has broad appeal then please file a bug or submit a pull request.