Unable to use MySql with Django

I am trying to get Django running with MySql, I am following this guide: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.2/intro/tutorial02/

Everything works up until this command: python manage.py migrate

I will include the entire error, the punchline is:

django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Error loading MySQLdb module.
Did you install mysqlclient?

The full error:

    Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/db/backends/mysql/base.py", line 15, in <module>
    import MySQLdb as Database
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/MySQLdb/__init__.py", line 17, in <module>
    from . import _mysql
ImportError: dlopen(/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/MySQLdb/_mysql.cpython-39-darwin.so, 0x0002): symbol not found in flat namespace '_mysql_affected_rows'

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/timo/Documents/coding/plegeus/musicians/backend/manage.py", line 22, in <module>
    main()
  File "/Users/timo/Documents/coding/plegeus/musicians/backend/manage.py", line 18, in main
    execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 442, in execute_from_command_line
    utility.execute()
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 416, in execute
    django.setup()
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/__init__.py", line 24, in setup
    apps.populate(settings.INSTALLED_APPS)
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/apps/registry.py", line 116, in populate
    app_config.import_models()
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/apps/config.py", line 269, in import_models
    self.models_module = import_module(models_module_name)
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/importlib/__init__.py", line 127, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1030, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1007, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 986, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 680, in _load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 850, in exec_module
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 228, in _call_with_frames_removed
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/contrib/auth/models.py", line 3, in <module>
    from django.contrib.auth.base_user import AbstractBaseUser, BaseUserManager
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/contrib/auth/base_user.py", line 57, in <module>
    class AbstractBaseUser(models.Model):
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/db/models/base.py", line 143, in __new__
    new_class.add_to_class("_meta", Options(meta, app_label))
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/db/models/base.py", line 371, in add_to_class
    value.contribute_to_class(cls, name)
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/db/models/options.py", line 243, in contribute_to_class
    self.db_table, connection.ops.max_name_length()
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/utils/connection.py", line 15, in __getattr__
    return getattr(self._connections[self._alias], item)
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/utils/connection.py", line 62, in __getitem__
    conn = self.create_connection(alias)
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/db/utils.py", line 193, in create_connection
    backend = load_backend(db["ENGINE"])
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/db/utils.py", line 113, in load_backend
    return import_module("%s.base" % backend_name)
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/importlib/__init__.py", line 127, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
  File "/Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/django/db/backends/mysql/base.py", line 17, in <module>
    raise ImproperlyConfigured(
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Error loading MySQLdb module.
Did you install mysqlclient?

The settings.py file has the following database setting:

DATABASES = {
"default": {
    "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.mysql",
    "NAME": "musicians_users",
    "USER": "root",
    "PASSWORD": "",
    "HOST": "localhost",
    "PORT": "3306",
  }
}

Using MySql cli I can verify that the database does in fact exist.

edit: The strange thing is that mysqlclient was already installed using the following command: pip install mysqlclient

Requirement already satisfied: mysqlclient in /Users/timo/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages (2.2.0)

Thanks.

Solution

The issue was resolved by installing and running Django in a conda environment as well as mysqlclient.

I had another issue where some caching_sha2_password.so file was not found, this was resolved by creating a user as follows:

CREATE USER 'username'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'password';

where username and password is the same you should use in settings.py. (Don't forget to grant privileges on the user.)

My DATABASES entry looks as follows:

DATABASES = {
    "default": {
        "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.mysql",
        "NAME": "musicians_users",
        "USER": "username",
        "PASSWORD": "password",
        "HOST": "127.0.0.1",
        "PORT": "3306",
    }
}

running python manage.py migrate now works when executed within the same conda environment.