These instructions apply for Debian Lenny and GeoDjango on django1.0 and postgresql-8.3

Packages Installation

Debian Lenny is shipped with the needed packages and defaults to python2.5

sudo apt-get install libgeos-3.0.0 proj postgis gdal-bin postgresql-8.3-postgis postgresql-8.3

Create a database template

This database could be used for recreating your geodjango powering databases

$ sudo su - postgres
$ createdb -E UTF8 template_postgis # Create the template spatial database.
$ createlang -d template_postgis plpgsql # Adding PLPGSQL language support.
$ psql -d template_postgis -f /usr/share/postgresql-8.3-postgis/lwpostgis.sql
$ psql -d template_postgis -f /usr/share/postgresql-8.3-postgis/spatial_ref_sys.sql
$ psql -d template_postgis # Enabling users to alter spatial tables.
template_postgis=# GRANT ALL ON geometry_columns TO PUBLIC;
template_postgis=# GRANT ALL ON spatial_ref_sys TO PUBLIC;

Testing the configuration

Make sure the new libraries are on the path, eventually logoff and sign in again.

The following tests should run flawlessly.

NOTE: you have to export GDAL_DATA variable:

export GDAL_DATA=/usr/share/gdal15

if you want you can set GDAL_DATA using gdal-config:

export GDAL_DATA=`gdal-config --datadir`

but you have to install libgdal1-dev deb package.

export DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=myproject.settings
python

>>> from django.contrib.gis.gdal import HAS_GDAL
>>> print HAS_GDAL # Will be False if GDAL libraries are not found
True
>>> from django.contrib.gis.tests import test_gdal
>>> test_gdal.run()
>>> from django.contrib.gis.tests import test_geos
>>> test_geos.run()

Creating a database

Now when creating a new database, use template_postgis as template (substitute in the appropriate database owner and the database name:

sudo su postgres
createdb -T template_postgis -O db_user db_name

Troubleshooting

If you hit errors, please refer to GeoDjangoInstall