Django Debug=False whitenoise not working - django

Question

I am trying to deploy my fully functional (when local and Debug=True) site to Heroku. When I use the default Django staticfile_storage settings, my site appears live but without any static files (css, images, etc). The admin panel works but it doesn't have any styles either.
But, when I try to use Whitenoise, which is what I originally intended, I get a server 500 error. The admin panel will not work then. I can't figure out for the life of me what I am doing wrong.
I have tried to model my settings.py file after Heroku's template:
https://github.com/heroku/heroku-django-template, and Whitenoise's documentation http://whitenoise.evans.io/en/latest/django.html.
When I look at my most recent Heroku logs, I see
at=info method=GET path="/static/css/styles.css" host=www.mysite.net request_id=826280da-21ba-48a1-8a05-679c92871d38 dyno=web.1 connect=0ms service=3ms status=404 bytes=361
When I push to Heroku, deployment is successful, but when I run
heroku run python3 manage.py collectstatic
it says that I have to write over preexisting files (yes/no), and when I say yes, I get an error stating that the app/static directory is not to be found.
I am absolutely puzzled - what could I be doing wrong? If my static files directory is not correct, how do I find it?
project structure
mysite/
blog/
static/
css/
styles.css
images/
favicon.png
templates/
blog/
blog_list.html
blog_detail.html
index.html
bio.html
resume.html
models.py
views.py
urls.py
media/
portfoliopieces/
1.png
2.png
3.png
4.png
mysite/
settings.py
urls.py
wsgi.py
portfolio/
templates/
portfolio_list.html
portfolio_detail.html
models.py
views.py
urls.py
mysite/urls.py
if settings.DEBUG:
urlpatterns += static(settings.STATIC_URL, document_root=settings.STATIC_ROOT)
urlpatterns += static(settings.MEDIA_URL, document_root=settings.MEDIA_ROOT)
settings.py
import os
from secrets import *
import dj_database_url
# Build paths inside the project like this: os.path.join(BASE_DIR, ...)
BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
PROJECT_ROOT = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
# SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!
# see secrets.py
# SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
# DEBUG = bool(os.environ.get('DJANGO_DEBUG', True))
# For production, make false
DEBUG = False
ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['www.mysite.com' ]
# Application definition
INSTALLED_APPS = [
'django.contrib.admin',
'django.contrib.auth',
'django.contrib.contenttypes',
'django.contrib.sessions',
'django.contrib.messages',
'whitenoise.runserver_nostatic',
'django.contrib.staticfiles',
'portfolio.apps.PortfolioConfig',
'blog.apps.BlogConfig',
]
MIDDLEWARE = [
'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
'whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware',
'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',
]
ROOT_URLCONF = 'mysite.urls'
WSGI_APPLICATION = 'mysite.wsgi.application'
# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.10/howto/static-files/
# STATIC_URL = '/static/'
STATIC_DIR = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static')
# STATICFILES_DIRS = [
#os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "static"),
#]
# STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(BASE_DIR), "static")
STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, 'staticfiles')
STATIC_URL = '/static/'
# Extra places for collectstatic to find static files.
STATICFILES_DIRS = [
os.path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, 'static'),
]
# Simplified static file serving.
# https://warehouse.python.org/project/whitenoise/
# STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'whitenoise.storage.CompressedManifestStaticFilesStorage'
STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.StaticFilesStorage'
MEDIA_URL = '/media/'
MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(BASE_DIR), "media")
SECURE_CONTENT_TYPE_NOSNIFF = True
SECURE_BROWSER_XSS_FILTER = True
# Update database configuration with $DATABASE_URL.
db_from_env = dj_database_url.config(conn_max_age=500)
DATABASES['default'].update(db_from_env)

Answer 1

After two full days of trying to get whitenoise to work, and failing, I figured out how to make the default Django staticfiles work over Heroku. This was really tricky, this might help others: the settings.py file should(assuming my project structure) look like this:
import os
from secrets import *
import dj_database_url
# Build paths inside the project like this: os.path.join(BASE_DIR, ...)
BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
DEBUG = False
ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['www.mysite.com']
# Application definition
INSTALLED_APPS = [
'django.contrib.admin',
'django.contrib.auth',
'django.contrib.contenttypes',
'django.contrib.sessions',
'django.contrib.messages',
'django.contrib.staticfiles',
'portfolio.apps.PortfolioConfig',
'blog.apps.BlogConfig',
]
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',
]
ROOT_URLCONF = 'mysite.urls'
TEMPLATES = [
{
'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
'DIRS': [],
'APP_DIRS': True,
'OPTIONS': {
'context_processors': [
'django.template.context_processors.debug',
'django.template.context_processors.request',
'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
],
},
},
]
WSGI_APPLICATION = 'mysite.wsgi.application'
# Database
DATABASES = {
'default': {
'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),
}
}
# Password validation
AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = [
{
'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.UserAttributeSimilarityValidator',
},
{
'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.MinimumLengthValidator',
},
{
'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.CommonPasswordValidator',
},
{
'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.NumericPasswordValidator',
},
]
# Internationalization
LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'
TIME_ZONE = 'UTC'
USE_I18N = True
USE_L10N = True
USE_TZ = True
# Heroku: Update database configuration from $DATABASE_URL.
db_from_env = dj_database_url.config(conn_max_age=500)
DATABASES['default'].update(db_from_env)
# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
PROJECT_ROOT = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
STATIC_URL = '/static/'
STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, 'staticfiles')
STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.StaticFilesStorage'
MEDIA_URL = '/media/'
MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(BASE_DIR), "media")