Django 3.2 LTS: New Features

Django 3.2 LTS offers extended support for production applications. Automatic AppConfig discovery, functional indexes, and admin improvements enhance development. At ZIRA Software, Django 3.2 LTS powers healthcare platforms requiring long-term stability.

LTS Support

Support timeline:

• Mainstream support: Until December 2021
• Extended support: Until April 2024 (3 years)

Key Features

Automatic AppConfig:

# No longer need apps.py
# Django auto-discovers app configuration

# Old way
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'myapp.apps.MyAppConfig',
]

# New way (Django 3.2+)
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'myapp',  # Automatically finds MyAppConfig
]

Functional indexes:

from django.db import models
from django.db.models import Index
from django.db.models.functions import Lower

class Article extends models.Model):
    title = models.CharField(max_length=200)

    class Meta:
        indexes = [
            Index(Lower('title'), name='lower_title_idx'),
        ]

Admin improvements:

@admin.register(Article)
class ArticleAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
    # New decorator for display functions
    @admin.display(description='Status', ordering='published')
    def status_display(self, obj):
        return 'Published' if obj.published else 'Draft'

Conclusion

Django 3.2 LTS provides stable foundation for enterprise applications with 3 years of support and modern features.

Building enterprise Django applications? Contact ZIRA Software for Django development.