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What's new in mssql-django

This article describes new features, improvements, and changes in each version of the mssql-django Django database backend.

Version 1.7.3

Release date: June 2026

Version 1.7.3 is a backward-compatible patch release with two connection and runtime fixes.

Bug fixes

  • FA001 for Authentication= modes other than ActiveDirectoryMsi: Previously, the backend skipped Trusted_Connection=yes only for ActiveDirectoryMsi. Other Entra modes that don't supply a USER value (for example, ActiveDirectoryIntegrated, ActiveDirectoryDefault, ActiveDirectoryDeviceFlow) still received Trusted_Connection=yes, which the ODBC driver rejected with FA001 (Cannot use Authentication option with Integrated Security option). The fix detects any explicit Authentication= value with a boundary-aware, case-insensitive match and skips both Trusted_Connection and Integrated Security=SSPI. Password handling is unchanged: SqlPassword, ActiveDirectoryPassword, and ActiveDirectoryServicePrincipal continue to send PWD, while ActiveDirectoryInteractive continues to omit it.
  • KeyError on subclassed DatabaseWrapper: The cached sql_server_version and to_azure_sql_db properties relied on type(self).__dict__ introspection of cached_property, which raised KeyError the first time a DatabaseWrapper subclass accessed them (a regression introduced in 1.7.1). The fix uses explicit class-level dicts (_known_versions, _known_azures) accessed through self., so the lookup resolves through the MRO and subclassed wrappers work correctly.

Version 1.7.2

Release date: May 2026

Version 1.7.2 is a backward-compatible patch release with time zone and compatibility fixes.

Bug fixes

  • .explain() compatibility for Django 4.0 and later: Fixed compiler handling of Django's explain metadata so .explain() no longer fails with AttributeError on Django 4.0 and later. The backend now follows version-appropriate explain fields and correctly raises NotSupportedError when needed.
  • datetimeoffset time zone handling: Fixed datetimeoffset parsing so time zone offsets are preserved instead of dropped. Returned datetimes are now time zone-aware when expected.
  • Now() with USE_TZ=True: Updated SQL generation for Now() to use time zone-aware behavior when time zone support is enabled, preventing timestamp drift on non-UTC SQL Server hosts.

Version 1.7.1

Release date: April 2026

Version 1.7.1 is a backward-compatible patch release with bug fixes.

Bug fixes

  • FieldDoesNotExist when altering fields with descending index ordering: Fixed _alter_field() in schema.py to use index.fields_orders instead of index.fields when resolving index field names. The previous code passed raw field-with-ordering strings (for example, "-pub_date") to model._meta.get_field(), which raised FieldDoesNotExist. Now only the field name is extracted, and the ordering suffix is properly discarded.
  • SQL database in Microsoft Fabric support (EngineEdition 12): Recognized SQL database in Fabric (EngineEdition=12) as an Azure edition. Previously, Fabric's engine edition was unrecognized, causing to_azure_sql_db to return False and feature-gate checks to fail. The fix adds EDITION_AZURE_SQL_FABRIC=12 to _AZURE_EDITIONS and maps Fabric to the latest supported SQL Server version. JSONField, hash functions, collation introspection, and test database teardown now work correctly on Fabric.

Version 1.7

Release date: March 2026

Highlights

  • Django 6.0 support: Full compatibility with Django 6.0, which requires Python 3.12 or later. All 6.0 API changes are handled transparently by the backend.
  • Partial CompositePrimaryKey support: The backend adds partial support for Django 5.2 CompositePrimaryKey. Tuple comparison against subqueries requires Django 5.2.4 or later, and some composite-key and JSONField edge cases remain. Django 5.2 itself was first supported in mssql-django 1.6.
  • SQL Server 2025 support: Validated against SQL Server 2025.
  • ODBC Driver 18 default: The backend now defaults to ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server, with automatic fallback to ODBC Driver 17 if version 18 isn't installed.

Version-specific notes

Django version Notes
Django 5.1 inspectdb can inspect tables with composite primary keys, but it doesn't generate complete model definitions for them.
Django 5.2 CompositePrimaryKey support is partial. Tuple comparison against subqueries requires Django 5.2.4 or later, and some migration plus JSONField edge cases remain.
Django 6.0 Requires Python 3.12 or later. All 5.2 limitations apply.

Version 1.6

Release date: August 2025

  • Added Django 5.1 and 5.2 support.
  • Enhanced JSON functionality and backward compatibility.
  • Improved pipeline infrastructure.

Version 1.5

Release date: April 2024

  • Added supports_comments feature flag for db_comments.
  • Bug fixes for AutoField, parameter formatting, and schema queries.

Version 1.4

Release date: January 2024

  • Added Django 5.0 support.
  • Added db_comment support.
  • Bug fixes for date/time conversions and empty aggregates.

Version 1.3

Release date: May 2023

  • Added Django 4.2 support.
  • Added case-sensitive Replace function support.
  • Bug fixes for OFFSET handling and left padding.

Version 1.2

Release date: December 2022

  • Added Django 4.1 support.
  • Added time zone support (datetimeoffset with USE_TZ=True).
  • Added return_rows_bulk_insert option for bulk insert ID retrieval.
  • Added SQL Server 2022 support.
  • Added JSONField support for Azure SQL Managed Instance.

Version 1.1

Release date: July 2022

  • Django 3.2 and 4.0 support.
  • SQL Server 2016 and later, and Azure SQL Database support.
  • pyodbc-based connectivity.

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