getdefaultlocale returning None when running sync.db on Django project in PyCharm

Question

OSX 10.7.3, PyCharm version 2.5 build PY 117.200

I'll run through how I get the error:

1. I start a new project
2. Create a new VirtualEnv and select Python 2.7 as my base interpreter (leave inherit global packages un-ticked)
3. Click Install and choose Django v1.4
4. Select Django project type
5. Tick Enable Admin
6. Open settings.py and add sqlite3 to DATABASES:ENGINE
7. Run sync.db
8. Get to the point of creating a database superuser
9. locale error

The problem seems to be that getdefaultlocale() method is not returning anything (well, None).

return getpass.getuser().decode(locale.getdefaultlocale()[1])
    TypeError: decode() argument 1 must be string, not None

However if I enable the virtualenv workon MyApplication and run python with the following code:

Python 2.7.2 (default, Feb  7 2012, 23:16:02) 
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple Clang 3.0 (tags/Apple/clang-211.10.1)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import locale
>>> print locale.getdefaultlocale()
('en_GB', 'UTF-8')

So does anybody know what's going on?

Full Output:

bash -cl "/Users/ash/.virtualenvs/Tester/bin/python /Applications/PyCharm.app/helpers/pycharm/django_manage.py syncdb"
Creating tables ...
Creating table auth_permission
Creating table auth_group_permissions
Creating table auth_group
Creating table auth_user_user_permissions
Creating table auth_user_groups
Creating table auth_user
Creating table django_content_type
Creating table django_session
Creating table django_site
Creating table django_admin_log

You just installed Django's auth system, which means you don't have any superusers defined.
Would you like to create one now? (yes/no): yes
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Applications/PyCharm.app/helpers/pycharm/django_manage.py", line 17, in <module>
    run_module(manage_file, None, '__main__')
  File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/runpy.py", line 180, in run_module
    fname, loader, pkg_name)
  File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/runpy.py", line 72, in _run_code
    exec code in run_globals
  File "/Users/ash/Development/PycharmProjects/Tester/manage.py", line 10, in <module>
    execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
  File "/Users/ash/.virtualenvs/Tester/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 443, in execute_from_command_line
    utility.execute()
  File "/Users/ash/.virtualenvs/Tester/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 382, in execute
    self.fetch_command(subcommand).run_from_argv(self.argv)
  File "/Users/ash/.virtualenvs/Tester/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 196, in run_from_argv
    self.execute(*args, **options.__dict__)
  File "/Users/ash/.virtualenvs/Tester/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 232, in execute
    output = self.handle(*args, **options)
  File "/Users/ash/.virtualenvs/Tester/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 371, in handle
    return self.handle_noargs(**options)
  File "/Users/ash/.virtualenvs/Tester/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/commands/syncdb.py", line 110, in handle_noargs
    emit_post_sync_signal(created_models, verbosity, interactive, db)
  File "/Users/ash/.virtualenvs/Tester/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/sql.py", line 189, in emit_post_sync_signal
    interactive=interactive, db=db)
  File "/Users/ash/.virtualenvs/Tester/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/dispatch/dispatcher.py", line 172, in send
    response = receiver(signal=self, sender=sender, **named)
  File "/Users/ash/.virtualenvs/Tester/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/contrib/auth/management/__init__.py", line 73, in create_superuser
    call_command("createsuperuser", interactive=True, database=db)
  File "/Users/ash/.virtualenvs/Tester/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 150, in call_command
    return klass.execute(*args, **defaults)
  File "/Users/ash/.virtualenvs/Tester/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 232, in execute
    output = self.handle(*args, **options)
  File "/Users/ash/.virtualenvs/Tester/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/contrib/auth/management/commands/createsuperuser.py", line 70, in handle
    default_username = get_default_username()
  File "/Users/ash/.virtualenvs/Tester/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/contrib/auth/management/__init__.py", line 105, in get_default_username
    default_username = get_system_username()
  File "/Users/ash/.virtualenvs/Tester/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/contrib/auth/management/__init__.py", line 85, in get_system_username
    return getpass.getuser().decode(locale.getdefaultlocale()[1])
TypeError: decode() argument 1 must be string, not None

Process finished with exit code 1

Answer 1

Basically the reason this occurs is that PyCharm doesn't, by default, have access to environmental variables.

I've found 3 solutions to this problem:

1. Set a global environmental variable, using the link CrazyCoder suggests in the comments to this question.

2. Run PyCharm from a terminal window by changing to the PyCharm application directory and running ./pycharm (possibly create a symlink in your PATH to make this less inconvenient)

3. Open PyCharm preferences, browse to Console > Django Console, type in your required environmental variables as you would in your bash profile e.g. LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

I'd suggest the 3rd way as most elegant, although it's annoying that variables aren't loaded by default.