Django static file 404 not found

Question

I have searched the similar questions but did not find my answer.

My simple webapp structure is:

mysite/

    manage.py

    mysite/

        __init__.py

        settings.py

        urls.py

        wsgi.py

    static/

        test.txt

    myfirstapp/

I have set STATIC_URL = '/static/' and STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "static")

and when I start the django server, I print the static path out which is /home/pi/mysite/static, looks correct

In my template, the code is:

{% load static %}

<li><a href="{% static 'test.txt' %}">Test File</a></li>

If I click the link, I always got 404. However, if I put the static folder in /home/pi/mysite/mysite/, then the static dir is /home/pi/mysite/mysite/static, this code can work and I can view the txt file.

I am confused by the settings, and I thought I set the static directory in settings in the root directory but not in the "mysite/mysite". Why the real behavior is opposite? What is the problem here? Thanks!

Answer 1

You should serve them during development. Check this part. Edit your main urls.py(you'll find it in same folder as settings.py).

from django.conf import settings

from django.conf.urls.static import static

urlpatterns = [

    # ... the rest of your URLconf goes here ...

] + static(settings.STATIC_URL, document_root=settings.STATIC_ROOT)