Fixed #3881 -- skip saving session when response status is 500

Saving session data is somewhat likely to lead into error when the
status code is 500. It is guaranteed to lead into error if the reason
for the 500 code is query error on PostgreSQL.

django/contrib/sessions/middleware.py

@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ class SessionMiddleware(object):
                     expires_time = time.time() + max_age
                     expires = cookie_date(expires_time)
                 # Save the session data and refresh the client cookie.
+                # Skip session save for 500 responses, refs #3881.
+                if response.status_code != 500:
                     request.session.save()
                     response.set_cookie(settings.SESSION_COOKIE_NAME,
                             request.session.session_key, max_age=max_age,

django/contrib/sessions/tests.py

@@ -409,6 +409,22 @@ class SessionMiddlewareTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertNotIn('httponly',
                          str(response.cookies[settings.SESSION_COOKIE_NAME]))
 
+    def test_session_save_on_500(self):
+        request = RequestFactory().get('/')
+        response = HttpResponse('Horrible error')
+        response.status_code = 500
+        middleware = SessionMiddleware()
+
+        # Simulate a request the modifies the session
+        middleware.process_request(request)
+        request.session['hello'] = 'world'
+
+        # Handle the response through the middleware
+        response = middleware.process_response(request, response)
+
+        # Check that the value wasn't saved above.
+        self.assertNotIn('hello', request.session.load())
+
 
 class CookieSessionTests(SessionTestsMixin, TestCase):
 

docs/releases/1.5.txt

@@ -177,6 +177,12 @@ autocommit behavior was never restored. This bug is now fixed in 1.5. While
 this is only a bug fix, it is worth checking your applications behavior if
 you are using PostgreSQL together with the autocommit option.
 
+Session not saved on 500 responses
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Django's session middleware will skip saving the session data if the
+response's status code is 500.
+
 Miscellaneous
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

docs/topics/http/sessions.txt

@@ -423,6 +423,9 @@ cookie will be sent on every request.
 Similarly, the ``expires`` part of a session cookie is updated each time the
 session cookie is sent.
 
+.. versionchanged:: 1.5
+  The session is not saved if the response's status code is 500.
+
 Browser-length sessions vs. persistent sessions
 ===============================================