============================================
Django 6.1 release notes - UNDER DEVELOPMENT
============================================

*Expected August 2026*

Welcome to Django 6.1!

These release notes cover the :ref:`new features <whats-new-6.1>`, as well as
some :ref:`backwards incompatible changes <backwards-incompatible-6.1>` you'll
want to be aware of when upgrading from Django 6.0 or earlier. We've
:ref:`begun the deprecation process for some features
<deprecated-features-6.1>`.

See the :doc:`/howto/upgrade-version` guide if you're updating an existing
project.

Python compatibility
====================

Django 6.1 supports Python 3.12, 3.13, and 3.14. We **highly recommend**, and
only officially support, the latest release of each series.

.. _whats-new-6.1:

What's new in Django 6.1
========================

Model field fetch modes
-----------------------

The on-demand fetching behavior of model fields is now configurable with
:doc:`fetch modes </topics/db/fetch-modes>`. These modes allow you to control
how Django fetches data from the database when an unfetched field is accessed.

Django provides three fetch modes:

1. ``FETCH_ONE``, the default, fetches the missing field for the current
   instance only. This mode represents Django's existing behavior.

2. ``FETCH_PEERS`` fetches a missing field for all instances that came from
   the same :class:`~django.db.models.query.QuerySet`.

   This mode works like an on-demand ``prefetch_related()``. It can reduce most
   cases of the "N+1 queries problem" to two queries without any work to
   maintain a list of fields to prefetch.

3. ``RAISE`` raises a :exc:`~django.core.exceptions.FieldFetchBlocked`
   exception.

   This mode can prevent unintentional queries in performance-critical
   sections of code.

Use the new method :meth:`.QuerySet.fetch_mode` to set the fetch mode for model
instances fetched by the ``QuerySet``:

.. code-block::

    from django.db import models

    books = Book.objects.fetch_mode(models.FETCH_PEERS)
    for book in books:
        print(book.author.name)

Despite the loop accessing the ``author`` foreign key on each instance, the
``FETCH_PEERS`` fetch mode will make the above example perform only two
queries:

1. Fetch all books.
2. Fetch associated authors.

See :doc:`fetch modes </topics/db/fetch-modes>` for more details.

Database-level delete options for ``ForeignKey.on_delete``
----------------------------------------------------------

:attr:`.ForeignKey.on_delete` now supports database-level delete options:

* :attr:`~django.db.models.DB_CASCADE`
* :attr:`~django.db.models.DB_SET_NULL`
* :attr:`~django.db.models.DB_SET_DEFAULT`

These options handle deletion logic entirely within the database, using the SQL
``ON DELETE`` clause. They are thus more efficient than the existing
Python-level options, as Django does not need to load objects before deleting
them. As a consequence, the :attr:`~django.db.models.DB_CASCADE` option does
not trigger the ``pre_delete`` or ``post_delete`` signals.

Mailers
-------

The new :setting:`MAILERS` setting supports configuring multiple email backends
with different options, similar to existing mechanisms for :setting:`CACHES`,
:setting:`DATABASES`, :setting:`STORAGES`, and :setting:`TASKS`::

    MAILERS = {
        "default": {
            "BACKEND": "django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend",
            "OPTIONS": {"host": "smtp.example.com", "use_tls": True},
        },
        "marketing": {
            "BACKEND": "example.third.party.EmailBackend",
            "OPTIONS": {"region": "africa-1"},
        },
    }

You can select a mailer with the new ``using`` argument to :ref:`email sending
<topic-email-sending>` functions, or obtain an email backend instance with
:data:`mail.mailers[alias] <django.core.mail.mailers>`. See
:doc:`/topics/email` for more details.

:setting:`MAILERS` is not yet enabled by default in existing projects. It will
replace :setting:`EMAIL_BACKEND` and related ``EMAIL_*`` settings in Django
7.0. Until then, the older settings will continue to work but will issue
deprecation warnings: see the list of :ref:`email deprecations
<mailers-deprecations>` below.

You can opt into the new feature at any time before Django 7.0; see
:ref:`migrating-to-mailers`. To ease the transition,
:data:`mail.mailers["default"] <django.core.mail.mailers.default>` works with
either :setting:`MAILERS` or the deprecated :setting:`EMAIL_BACKEND` setting
defined. The deprecated :func:`~django.core.mail.get_connection` function will
also return an instance of the default mailer when :setting:`MAILERS` is
defined.

Minor features
--------------

:mod:`django.contrib.admin`
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* The admin site login view now redirects authenticated users to the next URL,
  if available, instead of always redirecting to the admin index page.

* The admin's ``FilteredSelectMultiple`` widget now uses ``<optgroup>``\s to
  preserve :ref:`named groups <field-choices-named-groups>` (e.g.
  ``choices=[("Group", [("1", "Item")]), ...]``).

* When :attr:`.ModelAdmin.list_select_related` is ``False`` (the default),
  the change list now selects only the foreign key fields specified in
  :attr:`.ModelAdmin.list_display`, rather than all foreign key fields. This
  should improve performance for models with many foreign key fields.

* The :attr:`~django.contrib.admin.ModelAdmin.delete_confirmation_max_display`
  option allows customizing how many objects are displayed on admin delete
  confirmation pages and inline protected deletion errors before the remainder
  is truncated. The default is ``None`` (no truncation).

* In order to improve accessibility of the admin change forms:

  * Form fields are now shown below their respective labels instead of next to
    them.

  * Help text is now shown after the field label and before the field input.

  * Validation errors are now shown after the help text and before the field
    input.

  * Checkboxes are an exception to the above changes and continue to be
    displayed in their original layout.

* :attr:`~django.contrib.admin.ModelAdmin.list_display` now uses boolean icons
  for boolean fields on related models.

* The new ``location`` keyword argument of the
  :func:`~django.contrib.admin.action` decorator specifies which admin views
  the action is available on. The action is available on the admin change list
  page by default. It can also be available on the admin change form. See
  :ref:`admin-action-availability` for details.

* The new ``description_plural`` keyword argument of the
  :func:`~django.contrib.admin.action` decorator specifies a human-readable
  description for actions on the admin change list page. Defaults to the
  ``description`` value. This is useful when the action is available on both
  the admin change list and admin change form.

:mod:`django.contrib.auth`
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* The default iteration count for the PBKDF2 password hasher is increased from
  1,200,000 to 1,500,000.

* :attr:`.Permission.name` and :attr:`.Permission.codename` values are now
  renamed when renaming models via a migration.

* The new :attr:`.Permission.user_perm_str` property returns the string
  suitable to use with :meth:`.User.has_perm`.

:mod:`django.contrib.gis`
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* The :lookup:`isempty` lookup and
  :class:`IsEmpty() <django.contrib.gis.db.models.functions.IsEmpty>`
  database function are now supported on SpatiaLite.

* The new :lookup:`num_dimensions` lookup and :class:`NumDimensions()
  <django.contrib.gis.db.models.functions.NumDimensions>` database function
  allow filtering geometries by the number of dimensions on PostGIS and
  SpatiaLite.

* :class:`~django.contrib.gis.forms.widgets.OpenLayersWidget` is now based on
  OpenLayers 10.9.0 (previously 7.2.2).

:mod:`django.contrib.postgres`
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* :djadmin:`inspectdb` now introspects
  :class:`~django.contrib.postgres.fields.HStoreField` when ``psycopg`` 3.2+ is
  installed and ``django.contrib.postgres`` is in :setting:`INSTALLED_APPS`.

* :class:`~django.contrib.postgres.constraints.ExclusionConstraint` now
  supports the Hash index type.

:mod:`django.contrib.sessions`
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* :class:`~django.contrib.sessions.backends.base.SessionBase` now supports
  boolean evaluation via
  :meth:`~django.contrib.sessions.backends.base.SessionBase.__bool__`.

CSP
~~~

* The new :ttag:`csp_nonce_attr` template tag renders the CSP nonce attribute
  on ``<script>`` and ``<link>`` elements, or renders a
  :class:`~django.forms.Media` object's assets with the nonce applied, when the
  :func:`~django.template.context_processors.csp` context processor is
  configured. See :ref:`csp-nonce` for details.

* A new ``security.W027`` system check warns when
  :class:`~django.middleware.csp.ContentSecurityPolicyMiddleware` is enabled
  with ``CSP.NONCE`` in a CSP policy but
  ``django.template.context_processors.csp`` is not configured.

* CSP nonce attributes are now added on ``<script>``, ``<style>``, and
  ``<link>`` elements in admin templates and all built-in templates when the
  :func:`~django.template.context_processors.csp` context processor is
  configured. See :ref:`csp-nonce-config` for setup instructions.

Forms
~~~~~

* The new asset object :class:`~django.forms.Stylesheet` is available for
  adding custom HTML-attributes to stylesheet links in form media. See
  :ref:`paths as objects <form-media-asset-objects>` for more details.

* The new constant ``django.db.models.fields.BLANK_CHOICE_LABEL`` defines a
  more accessible and translatable default label for the blank choice in
  forms, which is appended to most ``choices`` lists. The transitional setting
  :setting:`USE_BLANK_CHOICE_DASH` allows you to revert back to the old
  default label.

* :class:`~django.forms.FilePathField` now provides a
  :meth:`~django.forms.FilePathField.set_choices` method to scan the
  directory at :attr:`~django.forms.FilePathField.path` and refresh the
  field's choices. This allows per-request refreshing when called in a form's
  ``__init__()``.

Generic Views
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* The new :attr:`.RedirectView.preserve_request` attribute allows preserving
  the HTTP method and body during redirects, using 307/308 status codes instead
  of 302/301.

Management Commands
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Management commands now set :class:`~argparse.ArgumentParser`\'s
  ``suggest_on_error`` argument to ``True`` by default on Python 3.14, enabling
  suggestions for incorrectly typed subcommand names and argument choices.

* The :djadmin:`loaddata` command now calls
  :data:`~django.db.models.signals.m2m_changed` signals with ``raw=True`` when
  loading fixtures.

* The :djadmin:`sendtestemail` command now supports a :option:`--using
  <sendtestemail --using>` option to specify the :setting:`MAILERS` alias.

Models
~~~~~~

* :meth:`.QuerySet.in_bulk` now supports chaining after
  :meth:`.QuerySet.values` and :meth:`.QuerySet.values_list`.

* The new :class:`~django.db.models.JSONNull` expression provides an explicit
  way to represent the JSON scalar ``null``. It can be used when saving a
  top-level :class:`~django.db.models.JSONField` value, or querying for
  top-level or nested JSON ``null`` values. See
  :ref:`storing-and-querying-for-none` for usage examples and some caveats.

* :attr:`DecimalField.max_digits <django.db.models.DecimalField.max_digits>`
  and :attr:`DecimalField.decimal_places
  <django.db.models.DecimalField.decimal_places>` are no longer required to be
  set on Oracle, PostgreSQL, and SQLite.

* :class:`~django.db.models.JSONField` now supports
  :ref:`negative array indexing <key-index-and-path-transforms>` on Oracle
  21c+.

* The new :class:`~django.db.models.functions.UUID4` and
  :class:`~django.db.models.functions.UUID7` database functions were added.

* :class:`~django.db.models.GeneratedField` now supports stored columns
  (:attr:`~django.db.models.GeneratedField.db_persist` set to ``True``) on
  Oracle 23ai/26ai (23.7+).

* The :data:`~django.db.models.signals.m2m_changed` signal now receives a
  ``raw`` argument.

* :class:`~django.db.models.StringAgg` now supports ``distinct=True`` on SQLite
  when using the default delimiter ``Value(",")`` only.

* The new :attr:`.QuerySet.totally_ordered` property returns ``True`` if the
  :class:`~django.db.models.query.QuerySet` is ordered and the ordering is
  deterministic.

* The new :class:`~django.db.models.BitAnd`, :class:`~django.db.models.BitOr`,
  and :class:`~django.db.models.BitXor` aggregates return the bitwise ``AND``,
  ``OR``, ``XOR``, respectively. These aggregates were previously included only
  in ``contrib.postgres``.

* :class:`django.db.models.BinaryField` now validates Base64 input strictly.
  Invalid Base64 strings now raise ``ValidationError`` instead of being
  silently accepted.

Requests and Responses
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* :attr:`HttpRequest.multipart_parser_class <django.http.HttpRequest.multipart_parser_class>`
  can now be customized to use a different multipart parser class.

* :class:`~django.http.HttpResponseRedirect` (and its subclasses), as well as
  the :func:`~django.shortcuts.redirect` shortcut, now accept a ``max_length``
  parameter to override the default maximum URL length limit.

Security
~~~~~~~~

* Signed cookies now use an unambiguous salt derivation by default. Set
  :setting:`SIGNED_COOKIE_LEGACY_SALT_FALLBACK` to ``True`` to continue
  accepting legacy signed cookies.

Serialization
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Subclasses of models defining the ``natural_key()`` method can now opt out of
  natural key serialization by overriding the method to return an empty tuple:
  ``()``. This ensures primary keys are serialized when using
  :option:`dumpdata --natural-primary`.

* The XML deserializer now raises
  :exc:`~django.core.exceptions.SuspiciousOperation` when it encounters
  unexpected nested tags.

Tasks
~~~~~

* The :func:`~django.tasks.task` decorator now accepts ``**kwargs``, which are
  forwarded to the backend's
  :attr:`~django.tasks.backends.base.BaseTaskBackend.task_class`.

* :class:`~django.tasks.Task` and :class:`~django.tasks.TaskResult` instances
  can now be pickled and unpickled.

Tests
~~~~~

* :meth:`~django.test.SimpleTestCase.assertContains` and
  :meth:`~django.test.SimpleTestCase.assertNotContains` can now be called
  multiple times on the same :class:`~django.http.StreamingHttpResponse`.
  Previously, they would consume the streaming response's content, causing
  subsequent calls to fail.

Utilities
~~~~~~~~~

* :func:`~django.utils.dateparse.parse_duration` now supports ISO 8601
  time periods expressed in weeks (``PnW``).

.. _backwards-incompatible-6.1:

Backwards incompatible changes in 6.1
=====================================

Database backend API
--------------------

This section describes changes that may be needed in third-party database
backends.

* The ``DatabaseOperations.adapt_durationfield_value()`` hook is added. If the
  database has native support for ``DurationField``, override this method to
  simply return the value.

* The ``DatabaseIntrospection.get_relations()`` should now return a dictionary
  with 3-tuples containing (``field_name_other_table``, ``other_table``,
  ``db_on_delete``) as values. ``db_on_delete`` is one of the database-level
  delete options e.g. :attr:`~django.db.models.DB_CASCADE`.

* Set the new ``DatabaseFeatures.supports_inspectdb`` attribute to ``False``
  if the management command isn't supported.

* The ``DatabaseFeatures.prohibits_dollar_signs_in_column_aliases`` feature
  flag is removed.

* The ``DatabaseOperations.binary_placeholder_sql()`` method now expects a
  query compiler as an extra positional argument and should return a
  two-elements tuple composed of an SQL format string and a tuple of associated
  parameters.

* The ``BaseSpatialOperations.get_geom_placeholder()`` method is renamed to
  ``get_geom_placeholder_sql`` and is expected to return a two-elements tuple
  composed of an SQL format string and a tuple of associated parameters.

* Set the new ``DatabaseFeatures.supports_bit_aggregations`` attribute to
  ``False`` if the database doesn't support bitwise aggregations.

:mod:`django.contrib.admin`
---------------------------

* The ``wide`` class is removed, as it was made obsolete by the new layout.

* The ``object-tools`` block is hoisted out of the ``content`` block in forms.

* The undocumented ``InclusionAdminNode.__init__()`` now takes the template tag
  ``name`` as the first positional argument.

* The undocumented ``ChangeList.has_related_field_in_list_display()`` method
  has been replaced with ``ChangeList.get_select_related_fields()``.

:mod:`django.contrib.auth`
--------------------------

* Under ASGI, :class:`~django.contrib.auth.middleware.RemoteUserMiddleware` no
  longer prefixes ``HTTP_`` when looking up custom values in ``request.META``.
  For example, to send ``-H "AuthUser: ..."``, the ``header`` attribute should
  be ``HTTP_AUTHUSER``. This restores the behavior prior to Django 5.2. (The
  default value of ``REMOTE_USER`` is not affected.)

:mod:`django.contrib.gis`
-------------------------

* Support for PostGIS 3.1 is removed.

* Support for GEOS 3.8 and 3.9 is removed.

* Support for GDAL 3.1 and 3.2 is removed.

:mod:`django.contrib.postgres`
------------------------------

* Top-level elements set to ``None`` in an
  :class:`~django.contrib.postgres.fields.ArrayField` with a
  :class:`~django.db.models.JSONField` base field are now saved as SQL ``NULL``
  instead of the JSON ``null`` primitive. This matches the behavior of a
  standalone :class:`~django.db.models.JSONField` when storing ``None`` values.

Email
-----

* Providing ``fail_silently=True``, ``auth_user``, or ``auth_password`` to mail
  sending functions (such as :func:`~django.core.mail.send_mail`) while also
  providing a ``connection`` now raises a ``TypeError``.

* The undocumented ``EmailMessage.get_connection()`` method is no longer used.
  Defining it in a subclass or trying to call it now causes an error.

* :meth:`.EmailMessage.send` no longer sets the ``connection`` property on the
  ``EmailMessage``. (This behavior was never documented. The ``send()`` method
  will still *use* a ``connection`` that is set on the message before sending.)

Models
------

* The :lookup:`iexact=None <iexact>` lookup on
  :class:`~django.db.models.JSONField` key transforms now matches JSON
  ``null``, to match the behavior of :lookup:`exact=None <exact>` on key
  transforms. Previously, it was interpreted as an :lookup:`isnull` lookup.

* :meth:`~.QuerySet.first` and :meth:`~.QuerySet.last` no longer order by the
  primary key when a ``QuerySet``'s ordering has been forcibly cleared by
  calling :meth:`~.QuerySet.order_by` with no arguments.

* SQL ``SELECT`` aliases originating from :meth:`.QuerySet.annotate`
  calls as well as table and ``JOIN`` aliases are now systematically quoted to
  prevent special character collisions. Because quoted aliases are
  case-sensitive, *raw* SQL references to aliases mixing case, such as when
  using :class:`.RawSQL`, might have to be adjusted to also make use of
  quoting.

System checks
-------------

* The :djadmin:`check` management command now supplies all ``databases`` if not
  specified. Callers should be prepared for databases to be accessed.

Dropped support for PostgreSQL 14
---------------------------------

Upstream support for PostgreSQL 14 ends in November 2026. Django 6.1 supports
PostgreSQL 15 and higher.

Dropped support for MySQL < 8.4
-------------------------------

Upstream support for MySQL 8.0 ends in April 2026, and MySQL 8.1-8.3 are
short-term innovation releases. Django 6.1 supports MySQL 8.4 and higher.

Dropped support for MariaDB < 10.11
-----------------------------------

Upstream support for MariaDB 10.6 ends in July 2026, and MariaDB 10.7-10.10 are
short-term maintenance releases. Django 6.1 supports MariaDB 10.11 and higher.

Miscellaneous
-------------

* The minimum supported version of SQLite is increased from 3.31.0 to 3.37.0.

* The default value of the transitional setting
  :setting:`SIGNED_COOKIE_LEGACY_SALT_FALLBACK` is now ``False``.

* :class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.fields.GenericForeignKey` now uses a
  separate descriptor class: the private ``GenericForeignKeyDescriptor``.

* The undocumented ``django.template.library.parse_bits()`` function no longer
  accepts the ``takes_context`` argument.

* The :class:`~django.core.files.File` class now always evaluates to ``True``
  in boolean contexts, rather than relying on the ``name`` attribute. The
  built-in subclasses ``FieldFile``, ``UploadedFile``,
  ``TemporaryUploadedFile``, ``InMemoryUploadedFile``, and
  ``SimpleUploadedFile`` retain the previous behavior of evaluating based on
  the ``name`` attribute.

* The undocumented ``connection()`` method of :class:`.log.AdminEmailHandler`
  has been removed and is no longer called. Subclasses overriding
  :meth:`.AdminEmailHandler.send_mail` should avoid calling ``connection()``.
  See :ref:`migrating-to-mailers-get-connection` if specific connection
  configuration is needed.

* The internal implementation of :class:`.BrokenLinkEmailsMiddleware` has been
  updated for mailers. If you have subclassed it to customize email sending
  behavior (as suggested in :doc:`/howto/error-reporting`), you may want to
  review the updates in the base :class:`.BrokenLinkEmailsMiddleware` class.

* ``django.http.multipartparser.MultiPartParser`` now uses strict Base64
  validation when decoding encoded request data. Previously, invalid data could
  be silently ignored or result in empty values. Invalid data now raises
  ``MultiPartParserError``.

* ``django.core.cache.backends.db.DatabaseCache`` now uses strict Base64
  validation when decoding cached values. Invalid Base64 data will raise an
  exception instead of being silently ignored. Cache values generated by Django
  are unaffected, as they are always valid Base64. However, existing cache
  entries containing non-standard or corrupted Base64 data may no longer be
  readable.

.. _deprecated-features-6.1:

Features deprecated in 6.1
==========================

.. _mailers-deprecations:

Email
-----

* The :setting:`EMAIL_BACKEND`, :setting:`EMAIL_FILE_PATH`,
  :setting:`EMAIL_HOST`, :setting:`EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD`,
  :setting:`EMAIL_HOST_USER`, :setting:`EMAIL_PORT`,
  :setting:`EMAIL_USE_TLS`, :setting:`EMAIL_USE_SSL`,
  :setting:`EMAIL_SSL_CERTFILE`, :setting:`EMAIL_SSL_KEYFILE`, and
  :setting:`EMAIL_TIMEOUT` settings are deprecated. Replace them with a
  :setting:`MAILERS` configuration dictionary as described in
  :ref:`migrating-to-mailers`.

* :func:`.mail.get_connection` is deprecated. See
  :ref:`migrating-to-mailers-get-connection` for replacement options.

* The ``connection`` argument to :func:`.send_mail`, :func:`.send_mass_mail`,
  :func:`.mail_admins`, :func:`.mail_managers`, and :class:`.EmailMessage` is
  deprecated. The ``EmailMessage.connection`` attribute is also deprecated.
  Switch to the ``using`` argument with a :setting:`MAILERS` alias.

* The ``fail_silently`` argument to :func:`.send_mail`,
  :func:`.send_mass_mail`, :func:`.mail_admins`, :func:`.mail_managers`, and
  :meth:`.EmailMessage.send` is deprecated. See
  :ref:`migrating-to-mailers-fail-silently` for alternatives.

* The ``auth_user`` and ``auth_password`` arguments to :func:`.send_mail` and
  :func:`.send_mass_mail` are deprecated. Replace them with ``"username"`` and
  ``"password"`` :setting:`OPTIONS <MAILERS-OPTIONS>` in :setting:`MAILERS`.
  See :ref:`migrating-to-mailers-auth`.

* Directly constructing and using instances of the
  :ref:`smtp.EmailBackend <topic-email-smtp-backend>` class is deprecated. Use
  :data:`.mail.mailers` to obtain email backend instances.

* The ``BaseEmailBackend.__init__()`` constructor no longer silently ignores
  unknown keyword arguments. Custom email backend subclasses should ensure they
  have consumed all supported ``**kwargs`` before forwarding the remainder to
  superclass init. The base class now issues a deprecation warning for unknown
  arguments, and it will treat them as errors starting in Django 7.0. See
  :ref:`migrating-to-mailers-email-backends`.

* Support for ``fail_silently`` in the ``BaseEmailBackend`` is deprecated.
  A custom email backend that wants to support ``fail_silently`` should manage
  its own local attribute, not pass it to the base backend constructor. See
  :ref:`migrating-to-mailers-email-backends`.

Miscellaneous
-------------

* Calling :meth:`~django.db.models.query.QuerySet.select_related` with no
  arguments to select all non-nullable related fields is deprecated. Specify
  the related fields to fetch instead, or use the
  :attr:`~django.db.models.FETCH_PEERS` fetch mode.

* Setting :attr:`.ModelAdmin.list_select_related` to ``True`` and returning
  ``True`` from :attr:`.ModelAdmin.get_list_select_related()` are deprecated.
  Specify the related fields to fetch instead.

* Calling :meth:`.QuerySet.values_list` with ``flat=True`` and no field name
  is deprecated. Pass an explicit field name, like
  ``values_list("pk", flat=True)``.

* The use of ``None`` to represent a top-level JSON scalar ``null`` when
  querying :class:`~django.db.models.JSONField` is now deprecated in favor of
  the new :class:`~django.db.models.JSONNull` expression. At the end of the
  deprecation period, ``None`` values compile to SQL ``IS NULL`` when used as
  the top-level value. :lookup:`Key and index lookups <jsonfield.key>` are
  unaffected by this deprecation.

* The ``django.db.models.fields.BLANK_CHOICE_DASH`` constant is deprecated
  in favor of the new constant ``django.db.models.fields.BLANK_CHOICE_LABEL``.

* The :setting:`USE_BLANK_CHOICE_DASH` transitional setting is deprecated.

* The :setting:`SIGNED_COOKIE_LEGACY_SALT_FALLBACK` transitional setting is
  deprecated.

* The undocumented ``get_placeholder`` method of
  :class:`~django.db.models.Field` is deprecated in favor of the newly
  introduced ``get_placeholder_sql`` method, which has the same input signature
  but is expected to return a two-elements tuple composed of an SQL format
  string and a tuple of associated parameters. This method should now expect
  to be provided expressions meant to be compiled via the provided ``compiler``
  argument.

* The ``quote_name_unless_alias()`` method of ``SQLCompiler``, the type of
  object passed as the ``compiler`` argument to the ``as_sql()`` method of
  :ref:`expressions <writing-your-own-query-expressions>`, is deprecated in
  favor of the newly introduced ``quote_name()`` method.

* The ``email_backend`` argument of :class:`.log.AdminEmailHandler` is
  deprecated in favor of the newly introduced ``using`` argument.

* The ``BitAnd``, ``BitOr``, and ``BitXor`` classes in
  ``django.contrib.postgres.aggregates`` are deprecated in favor of the
  generally available :class:`~django.db.models.BitAnd`,
  :class:`~django.db.models.BitOr`, and :class:`~django.db.models.BitXor`
  classes.

* Support for double-dot variable lookups, like ``{{ book..title }}``, is
  deprecated. This syntax maps to a lookup of the empty string, which is
  normally a mistake.

* The default value of the ``algorithm`` argument for
  ``django.utils.crypto.salted_hmac()`` and
  ``django.core.signing.base64_hmac()`` is deprecated and will change from
  ``"sha1"`` to ``"sha256"`` in Django 7.0. Pass an explicit ``algorithm``
  to silence the deprecation warning.

* Overriding ``ModelAdmin.get_actions()`` without the new ``action_location``
  parameter is deprecated.

* Unpacking or indexing the dictionary values of the
  ``ModelAdmin.get_actions()`` return value is deprecated. Use
  :class:`~django.contrib.admin.Action` attributes instead.

* Overriding ``ModelAdmin.get_action_choices()`` without the new
  ``action_location`` parameter is deprecated.

* :func:`django.db.transaction.savepoint` is deprecated in favor of
  :func:`~django.db.transaction.savepoint_create`.

Features removed in 6.1
=======================

These features have reached the end of their deprecation cycle and are removed
in Django 6.1.

See :ref:`deprecated-features-5.2` for details on these changes, including how
to remove usage of these features.

* The ``all`` parameter for the ``django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.find()``
  function is removed in favor of the ``find_all`` parameter.

* Fallbacks to ``request.user`` and ``request.auser()`` when ``user`` is
  ``None`` in ``django.contrib.auth.login()`` and
  ``django.contrib.auth.alogin()``, respectively, are removed.

* The ``ordering`` keyword parameter of the PostgreSQL specific aggregation
  functions ``django.contrib.postgres.aggregates.ArrayAgg``,
  ``django.contrib.postgres.aggregates.JSONBAgg``, and
  ``django.contrib.postgres.aggregates.StringAgg`` are removed in favor
  of the ``order_by`` parameter.

* Support for subclasses of ``RemoteUserMiddleware`` that override
  ``process_request()`` without overriding ``aprocess_request()`` is
  removed.