[Python] Django Custom Database Backend

I am trying to use a third party database backend and to understand the topic I followed the approach described under this link: https://python.plainenglish.io/how-...mprehensive-guide-for-developers-c8fb7e6a49ed So I used a docker instance of python:latest (3.13.0) and installed django (5.1.13).

I followed the article

Complete Real-World Demo: Creating and Using a Custom Django Database Backend
​

in the article above. When I reached the migration part, I received the error message:

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'custom_backend.base.base'; 'custom_backend.base' is not a package


So I changed the settings to:

DATABASES = {
'default': {
'ENGINE': 'custom_backend', # .base removed
'NAME': 'my_custom_db',
'USER': 'custom_user',
'PASSWORD': 'custom_password',
'HOST': 'localhost',
'PORT': '5432',
}
}


I still get an error:


File "/project/custom_backend_project/manage.py", line 22, in <module>
main()
~~~~^^
File "/project/custom_backend_project/manage.py", line 18, in main
execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 442, in execute_from_command_line
utility.execute()
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 416, in execute
django.setup()
~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/site-packages/django/__init__.py", line 24, in setup
apps.populate(settings.INSTALLED_APPS)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/site-packages/django/apps/registry.py", line 116, in populate
app_config.import_models()
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/site-packages/django/apps/config.py", line 269, in import_models
self.models_module = import_module(models_module_name)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/importlib/__init__.py", line 88, in import_module
return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1387, in _gcd_import
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1360, in _find_and_load
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1331, in _find_and_load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 935, in _load_unlocked
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 1022, in exec_module
File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 488, in _call_with_frames_removed
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/site-packages/django/contrib/auth/models.py", line 5, in <module>
from django.contrib.auth.base_user import AbstractBaseUser, BaseUserManager
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/site-packages/django/contrib/auth/base_user.py", line 40, in <module>
class AbstractBaseUser(models.Model):
...<123 lines>...
)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/site-packages/django/db/models/base.py", line 143, in __new__
new_class.add_to_class("_meta", Options(meta, app_label))
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/site-packages/django/db/models/base.py", line 371, in add_to_class
value.contribute_to_class(cls, name)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/site-packages/django/db/models/options.py", line 231, in contribute_to_class
self.db_table, connection.ops.max_name_length()
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/site-packages/django/utils/connection.py", line 15, in __getattr__
return getattr(self._connections[self._alias], item)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/site-packages/django/utils/connection.py", line 62, in __getitem__
conn = self.create_connection(alias)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/site-packages/django/db/utils.py", line 194, in create_connection
return backend.DatabaseWrapper(db, alias)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.13/site-packages/django/db/backends/base/base.py", line 114, in __init__
self.client = self.client_class(self)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^
TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not callable

The structure of the project is shown here:

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