OSError at /blog/create [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/static' during image upload in Django

Question

So I am practicing with Django by building my own blog app, and I can't figure out why I'm getting this error when I try to upload the header image using an ImageField. I configured wsgi to use the correct user, as shown below. And I made sure that user has full permissions in the static directory. I've seen a few similar posts on here, regarding the issue but none have fixed it for me.

Here is the traceback:

Environment:


Request Method: POST
Request URL: http://example.com/blog/create

Django Version: 1.8.4
Python Version: 2.7.6
Installed Applications:
('django.contrib.auth',
 'django.contrib.contenttypes',
 'django.contrib.sessions',
 'django.contrib.sites',
 'django.contrib.messages',
 'django.contrib.staticfiles',
 'app',
 'grappelli',
 'filebrowser',
 'tinymce',
 'django.contrib.admin')
Installed Middleware:
('django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
 'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
 'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
 'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
 'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
 'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
 'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware')


Traceback:
File "/var/www/example.com/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/handlers/base.py" in get_response
  132.                     response = wrapped_callback(request, *callback_args, **callback_kwargs)
File "/var/www/example.com/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/contrib/auth/decorators.py" in _wrapped_view
  22.                 return view_func(request, *args, **kwargs)
File "/var/www/example.com/mysite/app/views.py" in create_post
  93.           post.save()
File "/var/www/example.com/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/models/base.py" in save
  734.                        force_update=force_update, update_fields=update_fields)
File "/var/www/example.com/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/models/base.py" in save_base
  762.             updated = self._save_table(raw, cls, force_insert, force_update, using, update_fields)
File "/var/www/example.com/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/models/base.py" in _save_table
  846.             result = self._do_insert(cls._base_manager, using, fields, update_pk, raw)
File "/var/www/example.com/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/models/base.py" in _do_insert
  885.                                using=using, raw=raw)
File "/var/www/example.com/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/models/manager.py" in manager_method
  127.                 return getattr(self.get_queryset(), name)(*args, **kwargs)
File "/var/www/example.com/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/models/query.py" in _insert
  920.         return query.get_compiler(using=using).execute_sql(return_id)
File "/var/www/example.com/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/models/sql/compiler.py" in execute_sql
  973.             for sql, params in self.as_sql():
File "/var/www/example.com/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/models/sql/compiler.py" in as_sql
  931.                 for obj in self.query.objs
File "/var/www/example.com/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/models/fields/files.py" in pre_save
  315.             file.save(file.name, file, save=False)
File "/var/www/example.com/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/db/models/fields/files.py" in save
  94.             self.name = self.storage.save(name, content, max_length=self.field.max_length)
File "/var/www/example.com/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/files/storage.py" in save
  64.         name = self._save(name, content)
File "/var/www/example.com/lib/python2.7/site-packages/django/core/files/storage.py" in _save
  223.                     os.makedirs(directory)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/os.py" in makedirs
  150.             makedirs(head, mode)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/os.py" in makedirs
  157.     mkdir(name, mode)

Exception Type: OSError at /blog/create

Here is the settings.py:

"""
Django settings for example project.
"""

from os import path
PROJECT_ROOT = path.dirname(path.abspath(path.dirname(__file__)))

DEBUG = True
TEMPLATE_DEBUG = DEBUG

ALLOWED_HOSTS = (
    '.example.com',
    '.example.com.',
)

ADMINS = (
    # ('Your Name', 'your_email@example.com'),
    ('My Name', 'myemail@gmail.com'),
)

MANAGERS = ADMINS

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
        'NAME': '...',
        'USER': '...',
        'PASSWORD': '...',
        'HOST': '...',
        'PORT': '3306',
        'CONN_MAX_AGE': None
    }
}

LOGIN_URL = '/login'

# Local time zone for this installation. Choices can be found here:
# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_zones_by_name
# although not all choices may be available on all operating systems.
# On Unix systems, a value of None will cause Django to use the same
# timezone as the operating system.
# If running in a Windows environment this must be set to the same as your
# system time zone.
TIME_ZONE = 'America/Chicago'

# Language code for this installation. All choices can be found here:
# http://www.i18nguy.com/unicode/language-identifiers.html
LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'

SITE_ID = 1

# If you set this to False, Django will make some optimizations so as not
# to load the internationalization machinery.
USE_I18N = True

# If you set this to False, Django will not format dates, numbers and
# calendars according to the current locale.
USE_L10N = True

# If you set this to False, Django will not use timezone-aware datetimes.
USE_TZ = True

# Absolute filesystem path to the directory that will hold user-uploaded files.
# Example: "/home/media/media.lawrence.com/media/"
MEDIA_ROOT = '/static/media/'



# URL that handles the media served from MEDIA_ROOT. Make sure to use a
# trailing slash.
# Examples: "http://media.lawrence.com/media/", "http://example.com/media/"
MEDIA_URL = '/media/'

# Absolute path to the directory static files should be collected to.
# Don't put anything in this directory yourself; store your static files
# in apps' "static/" subdirectories and in STATICFILES_DIRS.
# Example: "/home/media/media.lawrence.com/static/"
STATIC_ROOT = '/var/www/example.com/mysite/static/'

# URL prefix for static files.
# Example: "http://media.lawrence.com/static/"
STATIC_URL = '/static/'

# Additional locations of static files
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
    # Put strings here, like "/home/html/static" or "C:/www/django/static".
    # Always use forward slashes, even on Windows.
    # Don't forget to use absolute paths, not relative paths.
)

# List of finder classes that know how to find static files in 
# various locations.
STATICFILES_FINDERS = (
    'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder',
#    'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.DefaultStorageFinder',
)

# Make this unique, and don't share it with anybody.
SECRET_KEY = '...'

TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS = (
    'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
    'django.core.context_processors.request',
)

# List of callables that know how to import templates from various sources.
TEMPLATE_LOADERS = (
    'django.template.loaders.filesystem.Loader',
    'django.template.loaders.app_directories.Loader',
#     'django.template.loaders.eggs.Loader',
)

MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = (
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    # Uncomment the next line for simple clickjacking protection:
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
)

#SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE = True
#CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE = True
CSRF_COOKIE_HTTPONLY = True
X_FRAME_OPTIONS = 'DENY'

ROOT_URLCONF = 'mysite.urls'

# Python dotted path to the WSGI application used by Django's runserver.
WSGI_APPLICATION = 'example.wsgi.application'

TEMPLATE_DIRS = (
    # Put strings here, like "/home/html/django_templates" or
    # "C:/www/django/templates".
    # Always use forward slashes, even on Windows.
    # Don't forget to use absolute paths, not relative paths.
)


INSTALLED_APPS = (
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.sites',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    'app',
    #'disqus',
    'grappelli',
    'filebrowser',
    'tinymce',
    # Uncomment the next line to enable the admin:
    'django.contrib.admin',
    # Uncomment the next line to enable admin documentation:
    # 'django.contrib.admindocs',
)



# A sample logging configuration. The only tangible logging
# performed by this configuration is to send an email to
# the site admins on every HTTP 500 error when DEBUG=False.
# See http://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/logging for
# more details on how to customize your logging configuration.
LOGGING = {
    'version': 1,
    'disable_existing_loggers': False,
    'filters': {
        'require_debug_false': {
            '()': 'django.utils.log.RequireDebugFalse'
        }
    },
    'handlers': {
        'mail_admins': {
            'level': 'ERROR',
            'filters': ['require_debug_false'],
            'class': 'django.utils.log.AdminEmailHandler'
        }
    },
    'loggers': {
        'django.request': {
            'handlers': ['mail_admins'],
            'level': 'ERROR',
            'propagate': True,
        },
    }
}

# Specify the default test runner.
TEST_RUNNER = 'django.test.runner.DiscoverRunner'

TINYMCE_JS_ROOT = '/var/www/example/mysite/static/tiny_mce'
TINYMCE_JS_URL = 'http://54.152.243.113/static/tiny_mce/tiny_mce_src.js'
TINYMCE_COMPRESSOR = True

FILEBROWSER_MEDIA_ROOT = MEDIA_ROOT
FILEBROWSER_MEDIA_URL = MEDIA_URL
FILEBROWSER_DIRECTORY = ''

apache mysite.conf:

ServerSignature off
Group varwwwusers 

<VirtualHost *:80> 
     ServerAdmin webmaster@example.com
     ServerName example.com
     ServerAlias www.example.com
     DocumentRoot /var/www/example.com/mysite/
     ErrorLog /var/www/example.com/logs/error.log 
     CustomLog /var/www/example.com/logs/access.log combined

     Alias /robots.txt /var/www/example.com/mysite/app/static/robots.txt
     Alias /favicon.ico /var/www/example.com/mysite/app/static/favicon.ico

     Alias /media/ /var/www/example.com/mysite/static/media/
     Alias /static/ /var/www/example.com/mysite/static/

     <Directory /var/www/example.com/mysite/static>
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

     <Directory /var/www/example.com/mysite/static/media>
        Require all granted 
    </Directory>

     <Directory /var/www/example.com/mysite>
        <Files wsgi.py>
          Require all granted 
    </Files>
    </Directory>

    WSGIDaemonProcess example.com  user=www-data group=varwwwusers python-path=/var/www/example.com/mysite:/var/www/example.com/lib/python2.7/site-packages
    WSGIProcessGroup example.com   
    WSGIScriptAlias / /var/www/example.com/mysite/example/wsgi.py
</VirtualHost>

Finally here is the portion of views.py where the error seems to be occurring(the post.save() call according to trace):

@login_required
def create_post(request):
    if request.method == "POST":
        form = BlogForm(request.POST,request.FILES)
        if form.is_valid():
            post = form.save(commit=False)
            post.author = request.user
            post.publish_date = datetime.now()
            post.save()
            return HttpResponseRedirect('/blog/page/1')
    else:
        form = BlogForm()
    return render(request, 'app/createblogpost.html', { 'title': 'Blog Poster', 'form': form, })

If it makes any difference, I'm hosting the example site on AWS EC2 free tier and the database is AWS RDS. Any help figuring this out would be greatly appreciated! Please let me know if any further information is required.

Answer 1

The problem is here:

MEDIA_ROOT = '/static/media/'

MEDIA_ROOT should be ABSOLUTE path (and it is, but it's not pointing to right directory). It should look like this:

MEDIA_ROOT = '/var/www/example.com/mysite/static/media'