Django - Installing WhiteNoise

WhiteNoise

Django does not have a built-in solution for serving static files, at least not in production when DEBUG has to be False.

We have to use a third-party solution to accomplish this.

In this Tutorial we will use WhiteNoise, which is a Python library, built for serving static files.

Install WhiteNoise

To install WhiteNoise in your virtual environment, type the command below:

The result should be something like this:

Modify Settings

To make Django aware of you wanting to run WhitNoise, you have to specify it in the MIDDLEWARE list in settings.py file:

.
.
MIDDLEWARE = [
    'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
    'whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware',
].
.

Collect Static Files

There are one more action you have to perform before you can serve the static file from the example in the previous chapter. You have to collect all static files and put them into one specified folder. You will learn how in the next chapter.