500 server error when debug=False in production

Question

I have been trying for several weeks to resolve an issue with my deployment settings. When debug=True the Heroku app works fine, however, when I change debug to =False I always get a 500 server error. I have tried every suggestion on the other stackoverflow threads regarding this issue and none seem to work for me. Please let me know if you have any suggestions.

"""
Django settings for scipertise_demo project.

Generated by 'django-admin startproject' using Django 2.0.5.

For more information on this file, see
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.0/topics/settings/

For the full list of settings and their values, see
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.0/ref/settings/
"""

import os
import django_heroku
import dj_database_url


# Build paths inside the project like this: os.path.join(BASE_DIR, ...)
BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))


# Quick-start development settings - unsuitable for production
# See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.0/howto/deployment/checklist/

#API_KEY ='46235562'

# SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!

SECRET_KEY = 'SECRET_KEY'

# SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
DEBUG = True

ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['*']


# Application definition

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    'django.contrib.sites',

    'pages',
    'users',
    'search',
    'taggit',
    'booking',
    'bootstrap4',
    'bootstrap_datepicker_plus',
    'widget_tweaks',
    'sendgrid',





]

#HAYSTACK_CONNECTIONS = {
#    'default': {
#        'ENGINE': 'haystack.backends.elasticsearch2_backend.Elasticsearch2SearchEngine',
#        'URL': 'http://127.0.0.1:9200/',
#        'INDEX_NAME': 'haystack',
#    },
#}

CRISPY_TEMPLATE_PACK = 'bootstrap4'
BOOTSTRAP4 = {
    'include_jquery': True,
}

SITE_ID = 1

MIDDLEWARE = [
    'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',

]

ROOT_URLCONF = 'scipertise_demo.urls'

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
        'DIRS': [os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'templates')],
        'APP_DIRS': True,
        'OPTIONS': {
            'context_processors': [
                'django.template.context_processors.debug',
                'django.template.context_processors.request',
                'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
                'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
            ],
        },
    },
]

WSGI_APPLICATION = 'scipertise_demo.wsgi.application'


# Database
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.0/ref/settings/#databases
#DATABASES = {
#    'default': dj_database_url.config(
#        default=config('DATABASE_URL')
#    )
#}

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),
    }
}


# Password validation
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.0/ref/settings/#auth-password-validators

AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = [
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.UserAttributeSimilarityValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.MinimumLengthValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.CommonPasswordValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.NumericPasswordValidator',
    },
]


# Internationalization
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.0/topics/i18n/

LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'

TIME_ZONE = 'UTC'

USE_I18N = True

USE_L10N = True

USE_TZ = True


# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.0/howto/static-files/


STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'staticfiles')
STATIC_URL = '/static/'

# Extra places for collectstatic to find static files.
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
    os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static'),
)

MEDIA_URL = "/media/"
#MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR,'media/')

AUTH_USER_MODEL = 'users.CustomUser'

LOGIN_REDIRECT_URL = 'home'
LOGOUT_REDIRECT_URL = 'home'

TAGGIT_CASE_INSENSITIVE = True

EMAIL_HOST = 'smtp.sendgrid.net'
EMAIL_HOST_USER = 'EMAIL_HOST_USER'
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = 'EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD'
EMAIL_PORT = 587
EMAIL_USE_TLS = True


SENDGRID_API_KEY='SENDGRID_API_KEY'
SENDGRID_PASSWORD='SENDGRID_PASSWORD'
SENDGRID_USERNAME='SENDGRID_USERNAME'


# Activate Django-Heroku.
django_heroku.settings(locals())

Answer 1

Enable white noise in the middleware.

http://whitenoise.evans.io/en/stable/django.html

Answer 2

Hopefully this helps someone. The problem for me was the forward slash in '/css/layout.css' in my html template (I know.. I'm banging my head against a wall) and commenting out the line: STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'whitenoise.storage.CompressedManifestStaticFilesStorage' in my settings file. Worked perfectly after those two changes.