What is the difference between postgres and postgresql_psycopg2 as a database engine for django?

Question

I have worked with python for a while, but never django. I am taking over a project that a different employee made before leaving our company. I am wondering if there is a difference between the option postgresql and postgresql_psycopg2 as a database driver for django.

In some articles and the docs about how to set up a django project I have seen just postgresql and in others I have seen the postgresql_psycopg2. I couldn't find anything in the docs (here or here) that mentioned psycopg2, so is this just the old way of writing the option?

Is one just an alias for the other or are they actually different enignes? I also couldn't find any other SO questions on this.

DATABASES = {
'default': {
    'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',# here I also saw postgres_psycopg2
    'NAME': 'premqcsite',
    'USER': 'django_user',
    'PASSWORD': 'Encepta_123',
    'HOST': 'localhost',
    'PORT': '5432',
}}

Dima Kudosh · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-22 20:15:36Z

73

It's the same. django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2 used in django <1.8 and it was renamed in django 1.9 to django.db.backends.postgresql. From docs:

Changed in Django 1.9:

The django.db.backends.postgresql backend is named django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2 in older releases. For backwards compatibility, the old name still works in newer versions.

answered Dec 22, 2017 at 20:15

Dima Kudosh

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2 Comments

Advena Over a year ago

Is it still required to install pycopg_2 with pip or is it now included in Django?

Shahriar Rahman Zahin Over a year ago

@Tanckom I also had the same question and found out it's not included. You have to install it before running migrate command

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