Static files only served when debug = True and does not when it is False in production for nginx ubuntu 22.04

Question

I have followed the setup procedures here https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-django-with-postgres-nginx-and-gunicorn-on-ubuntu-22-04 and my Django app is running but whenever I turn debug = False it will not load my static files.

Below is my nginx configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name server_domain_or_IP;

    location = /favicon.ico { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
    location /static/ {
        root /home/sammy/myprojectdir;
    }

    location / {
        include proxy_params;
        proxy_pass http://unix:/run/gunicorn.sock;
    }
}

and my settings.py:

STATIC_URL = 'static/'

STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static')

STATICFILES_DIRS = [os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'my_site/static')]

I have tried my best, researched a lot online, and followed many links but still fruitless.

In /etc/nginx/sites-available/etal-project, I have:

server {
    server_name 68.183.101.227 etal.ac www.etal.ac;

    location = /favicon.ico { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
    location /static/ {
        alias /home/yustaoab/pyapps/etal-project/static/;
    }

    location media/ {
        root /home/yustaoab/pyapps/etal-project;
    }


    location / {
        include proxy_params;
        proxy_pass http://unix:/run/gunicorn.sock;
    }

In my base html:

{% load static %}
{% load humanize %}



    
    

    
    
    
    
    
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
    {% block title %}
    {% endblock title %}




    
        {{ form.media }}
        

        
            
                
                
                    
                    
                        
                            
                                 
                            
                            {% if user.is_authenticated %}
                            
                            
                                
                                    
                                        Collab
                                    
                                
                                
                                    
                                        Discover
                                    
                                

                                
                                    
                                        Community
                                    
                                

                                
                                    
                                        
                                        {% if user.envelope_unreads > 0 %}
                                        {{user.envelope_unreads}}
                                        {% else %}
                                        {% endif %}
                                    
                                
                                
                                    
                                        
                                        {% if user.bell_unreads > 0 %}
                                        {{user.bell_unreads}}
                                        {% else %}
                                        {% endif %}
                                    

                                

                                
                                    
                                        {% if user.photograph %}
                                            
                                        {% else %}
                                            
                                        {% endif %}
                                    
                                
                                
                                

                            
                            {% else %}
                            
                            
                                
                                            
                          Join
                            
                                
                                
                                            
                          Login
                            
                                

                                
                                

                            
                            {% endif %}
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                        

                        

                        {% if user.is_authenticated %}
                        
                            
                                
                                    Collab
                                
                            
                            
                                
                                    Discover
                                
                            
                            
                                
                                    Community
                                
                            

                            
                                
                                    
                                    {% if user.envelope_unreads > 0 %}
                                    {{user.envelope_unreads}}
                                    {% else %}
                                    {% endif %}
                                
                            
                            
                                
                                    
                                    {% if user.bell_unreads > 0 %}
                                    {{user.bell_unreads}}
                                    {% else %}
                                    {% endif %}
                                

                            

                            
                                
                                    {% if user.photograph %}
                                        
                                    {% else %}
                                        
                                    {% endif %}
                                

                            
                        
                        {% else %}
                        
                            
                                        
                                        Join
                                        
                            
                            
                                        
                                        Login
                                        
                            
                        
                        {% endif %}
                    
                
                
                {% if 'login' in request.path or 'create-account' in request.path or 'reset-password' in request.path or '/join' in request.path %}


                {% elif user.is_authenticated %}
                
                
                
                    
                        

                        
                            Profile
                        
                        
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                {% else %}
                {% endif %}

                {% block content %}

                {% endblock content %}
                    
                    

                            
                                

                                
                                

                                    Copyright © Et al. 
                                
                                

                                
                            
                        
                    
                    
                
            
        

        
        
    
    
        
        
    
    
    
    
    
    
        
    
    
    
    
    
    
        
        
        
            
            
            
            
            
            
        
    
    
    
    
    
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        

        

    


The site is https://etal.ac

darl1ne · Answer

I think this is due to the fact that in your project url.py there is a line:

if settings.DEBUG:
    urlpatterns += static(....)

I also recommend that you replace root with alias:

location /static/ {
        alias /home/sammy/myprojectdir;
    }

and execute the statiс collection command:

python3 manage.py collectstatic

and lastly, make sure that you do not have the conditions for checking the debug mode anywhere

UPDATE: Make sure nginx looks for static where you have STATIC_ROOT:

location /static/ {
        alias /home/sammy/myprojectdir/static/;
    }

STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static/')

Static files only served when debug = True and does not when it is False in production for nginx ubuntu 22.04

1 Answers