python - Set email as username in Django 1.5 -

i reading docs at: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.5/topics/auth/customizing/#substituting-a-custom-user-model

so in settings.py put:

auth_user_model = 'membership.user' 

and in membership app models.py have this:

from django.contrib.auth.models import abstractbaseuser  class user(abstractbaseuser):     username_field = 'email' 

running python manage.py syncdb giving me:

fielddoesnotexist: user has no field named 'email' 

i check abstractbaseuser class source , field defined of course, can see here: https://github.com/django/django/blob/master/django/contrib/auth/models.py#l359

what's wrong?

abstractbaseuser doesn't have email field, abstractuser does.

if want use email unique identifier, need subclass abstractbaseuser , define email field unique=true , write other functionality, example manager of model:

from django.contrib.auth.models import abstractbaseuser, baseusermanager,\     permissionsmixin django.db import models django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy _ django.utils import timezone django.utils.http import urlquote   class customusermanager(baseusermanager):      def create_user(self, email, password=none, **extra_fields):         """         creates , saves user given email , password.         """         = timezone.now()         if not email:             raise valueerror('the given email must set')         email = customusermanager.normalize_email(email)         user = self.model(email=email,                           is_staff=false, is_active=true, is_superuser=false,                           last_login=now, date_joined=now, **extra_fields)          user.set_password(password)         user.save(using=self._db)         return user      def create_superuser(self, email, password, **extra_fields):         u = self.create_user(email, password, **extra_fields)         u.is_staff = true         u.is_active = true         u.is_superuser = true         u.save(using=self._db)         return u   class user(abstractbaseuser, permissionsmixin):     email = models.emailfield(_('email address'), unique=true)     first_name = models.charfield(_('first name'), max_length=30, blank=true)     last_name = models.charfield(_('last name'), max_length=30, blank=true)     is_staff = models.booleanfield(_('staff status'), default=false,         help_text=_('designates whether user can log admin '                     'site.'))     is_active = models.booleanfield(_('active'), default=true,         help_text=_('designates whether user should treated '                     'active. unselect instead of deleting accounts.'))     date_joined = models.datetimefield(_('date joined'), default=timezone.now)      objects = customusermanager()      username_field = 'email'      class meta:         verbose_name = _('user')         verbose_name_plural = _('users')      def get_absolute_url(self):         return "/users/%s/" % urlquote(self.pk)      def get_full_name(self):         """         returns first_name plus last_name, space in between.         """         full_name = '%s %s' % (self.first_name, self.last_name)         return full_name.strip()      def get_short_name(self):         "returns short name user."         return self.first_name      # define here other needed methods     # @ django.contrib.auth.models.abstractuser 

also, you'll want add user admin page. @ useradmin , redefine compatible new user model, use email field unique identifier.