Django collectstatic and Apache issue - django

Question

I use this command:
$ python manage.py collectstatic
to collect all static files from all applications and upload them to one single folder apps/apps/static/. So, I now have this file tree:
\home
\jacobian
\apps // <-- this is the root folder of my Django project
\apps
settings.py
urls.py
...
\static
The command collectstatic works fine - I see how it uploads all necessary files. But the problem is, I do not know how to force Apache now to load static files from that single \static folder. I tried to add these lines to my mysite.conf:
<VirtualHost *:80>
....
AliasMatch ^/js(.*) /home/jacobian/apps/apps/static$1
Alias /static/ /home/jacobian/apps/apps/static
</VirtualHost>
But is does not work. When I restart Apache and reload the page (which itself contains the link src="/js/test.js") in browser, I see in the console:
localhost/home/jacobian/apps/apps/static/js/test.js [HTTP/1.1 404 NOT FOUND]
although it seems that the url is resolved correctly, for some reason Apache is unable to upload static content from there. And by the way, what I also do not like about this is that the server discards home/jacobian/ part of the url.
EDIT
apache conf file looks like:
<VirtualHost *:80>
AliasMatch ^/js(.*) /home/jacobian/apps/apps/static$1
Alias /static/ /home/jacobian/apps/apps/static
DocumentRoot /home/jacobian/apps/apps
<Directory /home/jacobian/apps/apps/>
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
Options -Indexes
</Directory>
<Directory /home/jacobian/apps/apps/static>
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
WSGIScriptAlias / /home/jacobian/apps/apps/wsgi.py
</VirtualHost>
And this is what I have in Django project settings.py:
STATIC_URL = '/home/jacobian/apps/apps/static/'
STATIC_ROOT = '/home/jacobian/apps/apps/static/'
STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.StaticFilesStorage'
STATICFILES_FINDERS = (
'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder',
'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder',
)
EDIT
I also tried this configuration:
<VirtualHost *:80>
AliasMatch ^/js(.*) /home/jacobian/apps/apps/static$1
Alias /static/ /home/jacobian/apps/apps/static
WSGIScriptAlias / /home/jacobian/apps/apps/wsgi.py
<Directory /home/jacobian/apps/apps>
<Files wsgi.py>
Order deny,allow
Allow from all
</Files>
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
but still get the very same error localhost/static/js/test.js [HTTP/1.1 404 NOT FOUND], even though there is a file /home/jacobian/apps/apps/static/js/test.js. I have a guess that it might be somehow related to the DEBUG mode in settings.py. Maybe I should do some extra magic with urls.py?

Answer 1

First, change your STATIC_URL to: '/static/'. That should be URL on what Apache serves your static files, not system directory path.
Second, remove DocumentRoot from your apache config. All files outside of static directories should be handled by wsgi.
Third, change:
<Directory /home/jacobian/apps/apps/>
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
Options -Indexes
</Directory>
to:
<Directory /home/jacobian/apps/apps>
<Files wsgi.py>
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Files>
</Directory>
You don't want to serve all your files, just wsgi.py should be accessed publicly, and handled by WSGI. Also try to move that block below WSGIScriptAlias.
Fourth, remove trailing slash at the end of path in <Directory /home/jacobian/apps/apps/>.
Fifth, change allow,deny to deny,allow.