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Downsides ? If you are talking about simple project, then there arent any. Do whatever pleases you :). If the project grows bigger, then read next paragraph š
If it is larger project and has other contributors (and even if it does not), you need to version control it. And for this reason, manual changes are BAD. Cause you just cant go back to earlier version without changing the databaseā¦. BUTā¦.
But since you are talking about doing this manually, i feel, that i need to point out the existance of http://south.aeracode.org/
Which is created exactly for the reason that you, perhaps, should not be doing this manually.
BTW. im trolling here and talking tongue in cheekā¦ donāt take this post 100% seriously š
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Django South is the solution to this problem. It is a āmust haveā app to include (and here Iām going to disagree with @OdifYitsaebās answer) in ANY project, not just large ones. It is so simple and powerful that you are essentially creating more work for yourself if you donāt use it even in a tiny personal project.
Itās soon to be included into Django core in (I beleive) 1.7 as well, so itās a good idea to get familiar with it now.