kolibri cannot start after switching from sqlite to postgresql database

Observed behavior

Kolibri cannot start when the database switches from sqlite to postgresql because there are no migrations applied to the postgresql database. Running kolibri manage migrate doesn’t help because the command errors out before actually running migrations. I had to delete the .data_version file to force running migrations on postgresql database.

Expected behavior

users should be able to start kolibri successfully after they switch from sqlite to postgresql if they run some additional commands, e.g. kolibri manage migrate.

User-facing consequences

users cannot start kolibri after they switch from sqlite to postgresql

Errors and logs

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/core/handlers/exception.py", line 41, in inner
    response = get_response(request)
  File "./kolibri/core/device/middleware.py", line 31, in __call__
    request
  File "./kolibri/core/device/translation.py", line 81, in get_language_from_request_and_is_from_path
    if not getattr(resolve(request.path_info).func, "translated", False):
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/urls/base.py", line 27, in resolve
    return get_resolver(urlconf).resolve(path)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/urls/resolvers.py", line 366, in resolve
    sub_match = pattern.resolve(new_path)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/urls/resolvers.py", line 366, in resolve
    sub_match = pattern.resolve(new_path)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/urls/resolvers.py", line 366, in resolve
    sub_match = pattern.resolve(new_path)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/urls/resolvers.py", line 366, in resolve
    sub_match = pattern.resolve(new_path)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/urls/resolvers.py", line 366, in resolve
    sub_match = pattern.resolve(new_path)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/urls/resolvers.py", line 361, in resolve
    match = self.regex.search(path)
  File "./kolibri/core/device/translation.py", line 164, in regex
    device_language = get_device_language() or get_settings_language()
  File "./kolibri/core/device/translation.py", line 35, in get_device_language
    DEVICE_LANGUAGE_CACHE_KEY, DeviceSettings.objects.get().language_id, 600
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/db/models/manager.py", line 85, in manager_method
    return getattr(self.get_queryset(), name)(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/db/models/query.py", line 374, in get
    num = len(clone)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/db/models/query.py", line 232, in __len__
    self._fetch_all()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/db/models/query.py", line 1121, in _fetch_all
    self._result_cache = list(self._iterable_class(self))
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/db/models/query.py", line 53, in __iter__
    results = compiler.execute_sql(chunked_fetch=self.chunked_fetch)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/db/models/sql/compiler.py", line 899, in execute_sql
    raise original_exception
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/db/models/sql/compiler.py", line 889, in execute_sql
    cursor.execute(sql, params)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/db/backends/utils.py", line 64, in execute
    return self.cursor.execute(sql, params)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/db/utils.py", line 94, in __exit__
    six.reraise(dj_exc_type, dj_exc_value, traceback)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/utils/six.py", line 685, in reraise
    raise value.with_traceback(tb)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/kolibri/dist/django/db/backends/utils.py", line 64, in execute
    return self.cursor.execute(sql, params)
django.db.utils.ProgrammingError: relation "device_devicesettings" does not exist
LINE 1: ...device_devicesettings"."default_facility_id" FROM "device_de...

Steps to reproduce

1. start kolibri with sqlite database, so the migrations are applied there
2. stop kolibri server
3. put the postgresql database settings to options.ini file
4. start kolibri

Context

kolibri version: 0.12.5 operating system: OSX and Ubuntu 16.04

[radinamatic]

Do we have documentation about how to change to use postgresql database? I don’t find it in our user doc.

Nope, this is the first case I hear of somebody attempting it.

It would certainly need to be placed among the advanced management topics, but if there’s consensus that we need to cover it, I’m all for it! 👍

[socketbox]

See https://www.notion.so/learningequality/Move-a-SQLite-database-to-PostgreSQL-Using-PGLoader-8807b6515d8d4dc0a08b78934a6aebfa