Django: Query Performance & GIS Reliability Improvements
The Django team merged three solid PRs focused on query optimization and GIS functionality. The standout change enables developers to use empty order_by() calls to prevent automatic primary key ordering in first() and last() methods, while GIS forms got more robust error handling and cleaner documentation.
Duration: PT4M22S
Episode overview
This episode is a short developer briefing from Django.
It explains recent repository work in plain language.
- Show: Django
- Published: 2026-02-07T11:10:10Z
- Audio duration: PT4M22S
Transcript excerpt
This excerpt keeps the crawler page concise. Listen to the episode or use the RSS feed for the full update.
Hey there, Django developers! Welcome back to another episode of the Django podcast. It's February 7th, 2026, and I'm so excited to catch up with you about what's been happening in our favorite web framework. Grab your coffee - or whatever fuels your coding sessions - because we've got some really thoughtful…
So yesterday was quite productive for the Django project! We saw three pull requests get merged, and honestly, each one tells a story about the kind of careful, developer-focused improvements that make Django such a joy to work with.
Let's start with the biggest one - and this is something that might actually change how you write queries. Nilesh Pahari tackled issue 36644, and this is one of those fixes that's going to make a lot of developers go "oh, finally!" Have you ever been frustrated when you call first() or last() on a queryset, and…
Here's what changed: you can now call order_by() with no arguments to explicitly disable any ordering, and when you do that, first() and last() will actually respect your choice. Before this fix, Django would sneakily add primary key ordering anyway, which could mess with your performance or give you unexpected…
What I love about this fix…
Spe…
Nearby episodes from Django
- Performance Tuning and Test Coverage Expansion
- Bug Fixes and Better Testing Workflows
- Python 3.14 Future-Proofing & Developer Experience Polish
- GIS Gets More Dimensions and Database Flexibility
- Testing the Safety Net
- Admin Polish & Migration Fixes
- Spring Cleaning Season - Python 3.12 Upgrades and Bug Squashing
- Database Compatibility Fix and Release Prep