Deploying Django/Python 3.4 to Heroku
django, heroku, pip, python
Solution
I encountered this exact problem during my own attempt to deploy a Django app to Heroku on Windows 7. The cause turned out to be this: The command `pip freeze >requirements.txt` encodes the file in UTF-16 format. Heroku expects requirements.txt to be ansi-encoded.
To fix it, I opened requirements.txt in Notepad, went to File->Save As, and set the Encoding to ANSI before saving again. After git-committing the new requirements.txt, I was able to run `git push heroku master` and it worked as expected.
Problem
I am trying to deploy my first example app with Django/Heroku using the Django/Heroku Getting Started Tutorial. My tools: Python 3.4 and Windows 7 PowerShell. My challenge: deploying to Heroku fails and I am not sure why. Upon my first "git push" I saw that python-2.7.0 was used by default. I then added a `runtime.txt` (python-3.4.0) file in the app root. Here is what happens when I run `git push heroku master` ``` -----> Python app detected -----> Preparing Python runtime (python-3.4.0) -----> Installing Setuptools (2.1) -----> Installing Pip (1.5.4) -----> Installing dependencies using Pip (1.5.4) Exception: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/app/.heroku/python/lib/python3.4/site-packages/pip-1.5.4-py3.4.egg/pip/basecommand.py", line 122, in main status = self.run(options, args) File "/app/.heroku/python/lib/python3.4/site-packages/pip-1.5.4-py3.4.egg/pip/commands/install.py", line 262, in run for req in parse_requirements(filename, finder=finder, options=options, session=session): File "/app/.heroku/python/lib/python3.4/site-packages/pip-1.5.4-py3.4.egg/pip/req.py", line 1546, in parse_requirements session=session, File "/app/.heroku/python/lib/python3.4/site-packages/pip-1.5.4-py3.4.egg/pip/download.py", line 275, in get_file_content content = f.read() File "/app/.heroku/python/lib/python3.4/codecs.py", line 313, in decode (result, consumed) = self._buffer_decode(data, self.errors, final) UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xff in position 0: invalid start byte Storing debug log for failure in /app/.pip/pip.log ! Push rejected, failed to compile Python app ``` Here the content of my `requirements.txt` file (created with `pip freeze > requirements.txt`) ``` Django==1.6.2 dj-database-url==0.3.0 dj-static==0.0.5 django-toolbelt==0.0.1 gunicorn==18.0 psycopg2==2.5.2 pystache==0.5.3 static==1.0.2 ``` Here my `Procfile` (btw: gunicorn seems to be a Unix "only" command and does not work for Windows; read here): ``` web: gunicorn mytodo.wsgi ``` The Heroku tutorial does not mention a `setup.py` file, but it seems that one is necessary, so I simply copied a template.... not my preferred solution, but I did not know what else to do. ``` setup( name='mysite', version='0.1.0', install_requires=[], # Don't put anything here, just use requirements.txt packages=['mysite'], package_dir={'mysite': 'src/mysite'}, ) ``` What could be going on: - The unicode error message could stem from the `Procfile`. Somewhere online I read that it has to be ASCII file, but I am not sure how to declare that as the Procfile has no file ending. - The setup.py file is wrong. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!