[Django]-Django project root self discovery

The architecture of a project in Django

• root/

  • app1/
  • app2/
  • …
  • main/
    • settings.py

Inside settings.py:

SITE_ROOT = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)) -> gives the path of the file settings.py: root/main/. This is NOT THE ROOT OF THE PROJECT

PROJECT_PATH = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__name__)) -> gives the root of the project: root/. This is THE ROOT OF THE PROJECT.

Django 1.8 already includes the project root directory as BASE_DIR:

BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))

And you can use it in your app by importing settings:

from django.conf import settings
...
...
print(settings.BASE_DIR)

PROJECT_PATH = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__name__))