Using Django static() to generate audio files' URLs in production - django

Question

I'm trying to get my Django app to play audio files (supposedly) uploaded by users via a form. Said files are tied to a model :
# models.py
class Doc(models.Model):
# ...
tape = models.FileField()
The uploading and saving parts are working fine, and the files are stored where they should be :
- djangoproject
|
- docapp
|
- media <- here
So, in order to get where I want, I added these two lines to the settings.py file MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'docapp/media/') and MEDIA_URL = 'docapp/media/'.
I hoped to be able to link to the audio files thus:
# templates/docapp/index.html
...
<audio src='{{ doc.tape.url }}' controls></audio>
Unfortunately, this wasn't working because the link generated by doc.tap.url (http://localhost/docapp/media/filename.aac) was returning a 404 error.
After a lot of googling I found this answer, which I happily copy-pasted into my app ... and it worked. This is the code in question :
# urls.py
from django.conf import settings
from django.conf.urls.static import static
urlpatterns += static(settings.MEDIA_URL, document_root=settings.MEDIA_ROOT)
The problem is that I'm not comfortable with inserting code in my apps that I don't understand. I did some research about the static() function and all I could get is this :
Helper function to return a URL pattern for serving files in debug mode
Does this mean that the static function should not be used in production? If so, what should I be using in production? And what exactly does it do?
EDIT To be clear, the generated URL after injecting the solution is the same as the one generated without it. Yet, it only works when the static() function is present.
EDIT 2 I forgot to mention that the 404 errors persisted even after I chmoded the media folder to allow others to read-access it.
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You shouldn't do anything. No errors no problem. The docs write about development server and serving static files AND that it is for development only. In a production environment you configure your server (Apache, NGNIX or third party like S3) to serve the files. That's all.
Try to configure media files and access the file via it's url. If it works, try the {{ doc.tape.url }} template tag.
In your development environment your media may live in /media/ (route and directory). While on production it may be something like media.example.com. Running Django with the settings for that environment will change all static/media domains and paths to their correct locations.
You may split settings file into a settings file for each environment (production, acceptance, development). Like this:
project/
settings/
__init__.py
base.py
local.py
staging.py
test.py
production.py
You can run your project with a specific env: ./manage.py runserver --settings=project.settings.development. Do not repeat yourself and put development specific settings in development.py and from base import * so that base.py contains the default settings.
This project and settings layout is taken from the book Two Scoops of Django. It is just an example. Adjust to your own needs.

Answer 2

Yes, django.conf.urls.static.static is only for development and not for production. For production, you should just need to configure your MEDIA_URL and MEDIA_ROOT settings and have your webserver serve the MEDIA_ROOT directory in the MEDIA_URL path.

Answer 3

Basically adding that in the URL urlpatterns += static(settings.MEDIA_URL, document_root=settings.MEDIA_ROOT) will make the media files in the URL existing. Try removing that and visit your media file in the URL and you will receive a 404 not found. It's very similar to the concept that you are inserting a view for rendering the media files