Tips and tricks

Python

• Use distutils.version.StrictVersion for comparing version strings.

KA Lite

• to prevent the need to login every single time the server reboots, put SESSION_ENGINE = "django.contrib.sessions.backends.file" in your local settings file

Testing

Have browser tests run without launching a window

Put in two aliases in your .bashrc:

alias setupxvfb='Xvfb :99 -ac'
alias pmtestxvfb='DISPLAY=:99 python manage.py test'

And then in a background terminal, run setupxvfb, and on your main terminal, run pmtestxvfb <test args>. Voila! Firefox won't be popping up a window anytime soon.