--- canonical: "https://www.jsolly.com/blog/migrating-to-django-4x/" title: "Upgrading to Django 4.0: Navigating Dependency and Migration Errors" description: "Navigating dependency and migration errors while upgrading to Django 4.0 - A guide to upgrading from Django 3.2.14 to 4.0.5" author: "John Solly" published: "2022-06-09T02:34:50.000Z" updated: "2026-09-07T14:25:05.480Z" --- # Upgrading to Django 4.0: Navigating Dependency and Migration Errors ![Django support timeline. Shows 3.2 support ending in 2022.](https://d1d7p8ufhgz4ld.cloudfront.net/media/post_metaimgs/django_support_timeline.jpg) My friend Justin created an issue in my repo for migrating to Django 4.0. I couldn’t because a dependency, [django-admin-honeypot](https://github.com/dmpayton/django-admin-honeypot), and [HTMX](https://django-htmx.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation.html) did not work on 4.0. I made the leap after HTMX officially started advertising 4.0 support. With [this PR](https://github.com/jsolly/blogthedata/pull/105/commits/51116b5017ecd6b13dc505be0fcb9a92cbab759f), I’ve migrated blogthedata.com to Django 4.0.5. ## **The upgrade** ### **Startup Error** I followed my [upgrade document](https://www.jsolly.com/blog/upgrading-to-the-latest-3x-django/) and ran into my first issue; The app wouldn’t start! There was an error in the console: 
 RuntimeError: populate() isn’t reentrant
It’s an unhelpful Django error often due to a misconfigured dependency in settings.py. Someone mentioned in [this SO thread](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27093746/django-stops-working-with-runtimeerror-populate-isnt-reentrant/55929118#55929118) that a one-line change in `django/apps/`[`registry.py`](https://app.prowritingaid.com/registry.py) surfaces the error. Sure enough, the error was coming from a module [I incorporated in the past](https://www.jsolly.com/blog/admin-honeypot-page-to-catch-hackers/). 
 Could not import ugettext_lazy
The [Django 4.0 upgrade doc](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.0/releases/4.0/) states that Django 4.0 removes this import. I found an [open issue](https://github.com/dmpayton/django-admin-honeypot/issues/87) in the django-admin-honeypot repo, but no one has actioned it for three months. My options were: 1 - Drop the package 2 - Patch it myself 3 - Find a replacement. There are similar repos ([1](https://github.com/jamesturk/django-honeypot/), [2](https://github.com/blag/django-admin-honeypot)), but these packages aren’t well maintained either. Additionally, re-work was required to change modules. I chose to eliminate the dependency. Although the functionality is interesting, it hasn’t caught any login attempts (who hacks a personal blog?).  ### **Migration error** The app failed again but from a migration error. Migration, 0006\_change\_content\_field\_to\_richtextuploading.py, imports the old django-ckeditor package I used when first implementing CKEditor. I saw [this ticket](https://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/25327) in the official Django repo, where a commenter suggests [migration squashing](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/migrations/#migration-squashing). Squash migrations reduce the number of migrations by ‘squashing’ them into one file. 
$ python3 manage.py squashmigrations blog 0006                                             
Will squash the following migrations:
 - 0001_initial
 - 0002_add_likes
 - 0003_add_views_to_Post
 - 0004_add_slug_field
 - 0005_add_images_to_post
 - 0006_change_content_field_to_richtextuploading
Do you wish to proceed? [yN]
Typed ‘Y’ and hit enter 
Created new squashed migration /Users/johnsolly/Documents/code/blogthedata/django_project/blog/migrations/0001_squashed_0006_change_content_field_to_richtextuploading.py
  You should commit this migration but leave the old ones in place;
  the new migration will be used for new installs. Once you are sure
  all instances of the codebase have applied the migrations you squashed,
  you can delete them.
I followed the instructions, and everything started working again!  ## **Conclusion** I ran into two errors during the upgrade from Django 3.2.14 to 4.0.5. The first was a third-party dependency not supported on 4.0. A second issue was a migration error from a removed dependency. The missing import was resolved by eliminating a dependency. The second issue was addressed by squashing migrations. I am excited to now use Django 4.0! June 9, 2022 in [Web Dev](https://www.jsolly.com/blog/category/web-dev/) Updated September 7, 2026