microsoft/mssql-django 1.7

1.7

Repository: microsoft/mssql-django

Tag: 1.7

Published: 2026-03-06T12:17:12Z

Prerelease: no

Release notes:

mssql-django 1.7 Release Notes (March 2026)

We're thrilled to announce mssql-django 1.7 ! This release brings first-class Django 6.0 support, Python 3.14 compatibility, SQL Server 2025 readiness, and a wave of quality-of-life improvements across the board.

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Highlights

• Django 6.0 — Full support for the latest Django, including API renames, JSON path compilation changes, and DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD alignment
• Python 3.14 — Verified and tested on the newest Python release
• SQL Server 2025 — Tested and supported with CI coverage on Linux
• ODBC Driver 18 — Now the default driver, with automatic v17 fallback
• Composite Primary Keys — Full Django 5.2+ composite PK support with ORDER BY deduplication and ColPairs expansion
• Developer Experience — New devcontainer, Copilot instructions, and AI-assisted development prompts

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Features

Django 6.0 and Python 3.14 Support (#488, #506, #507, #508, #509, #510)

• What changed: Comprehensive Django 6.0 compatibility across the entire backend — JSON path handling via connection.ops.compile_json_path(), compatibility shims for renamed API methods (return_insert_columns() → returning_columns(), fetch_returned_insert_rows() → fetch_returned_rows()), CheckConstraint parameter rename (check → condition), DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD alignment, db_default bulk insert support, batching and ORDER BY compatibility, JSON lookup path handling, JSON ordering with KeyTransform deduplication, StringAgg order_by support (including OuterRef), and db_default insert returning fallback with trigger-safe temp table reuse. Python 3.14 is fully tested across all configurations.
• Who benefits: Teams adopting the latest Django and Python versions, anyone wanting to stay on the cutting edge
• Impact: Seamless upgrade path to Django 6.0 with Python 3.14 support — no application-level changes required

SQL Server 2025 Support (#489)

• What changed: Added SQL Server 2025 to the test matrix with Linux CI coverage. Verified compatibility with stricter identifier parsing in SQL Server 2025.
• Who benefits: Teams evaluating or deploying on SQL Server 2025
• Impact: Confidence that the backend works with the newest SQL Server release

Composite Primary Key Support (#462, #465, #501, #504)

• What changed: Full composite primary key support for Django 5.2+, including ORDER BY deduplication to prevent SQL Server error 169 ("A column has been specified more than once in the order by list"), ColPairs expansion in get_order_by() to prevent ORDER BY corruption with JSONArray, bulk_update validation for composite PK fields, and tuple-lookup fallback support for Django 5.2.4+.
• Who benefits: Applications using multi-column primary keys, a key Django 5.2 feature
• Impact: Composite primary keys work correctly with ordering, bulk operations, and JSON functions

ODBC Driver 18 as Default (#493)

• What changed: Default ODBC driver upgraded from v17 to v18. Automatic fallback to v17 if v18 is not installed, with a warning log and security recommendations. Connection string building refactored into a dedicated method. Added 45 new unit tests covering DatabaseWrapper utility functions.
• Who benefits: All users — v18 includes important security improvements (encryption enabled by default)
• Impact: Better security out of the box; existing v17 installations continue to work seamlessly via auto-fallback

Devcontainer for Local Development (#500)

• What changed: Added a full Docker Compose–based devcontainer with SQL Server 2022 and Python 3.14, both ODBC drivers (17 & 18), shell aliases (test, testall, migrate, shell, dbshell, sqlcmd), environment-variable-driven test settings, and automatic Django source cloning for the full test suite.
• Who benefits: New contributors and developers who want a zero-setup development environment
• Impact: Clone → open in VS Code → start coding. No manual SQL Server or ODBC driver setup needed

Copilot Instructions & AI-Assisted Development (#495)

• What changed: Added comprehensive GitHub Copilot instructions covering repository structure, SQL Server limitations, coding patterns (as_microsoft), testing procedures, and version compatibility. Added reusable prompt files for dev environment setup, running unit tests, and running the Django test suite.
• Who benefits: Contributors using GitHub Copilot or AI-assisted coding tools
• Impact: AI assistants have full project context, leading to higher-quality suggestions and faster contributions

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Improvements

Enhanced quote_name() Identifier Handling (#490)

• What changed: Refactored quote_name() to treat names as single identifiers without splitting on periods. Added dedicated quote_table_name() for explicit schema.table handling. Fixes issues with annotation aliases containing periods (e.g., ordering_article.pub_date).
• Who benefits: Applications using Django 5.2+ annotation features
• Impact: Eliminates invalid SQL from period-containing aliases across all SQL Server versions

Meta.indexes Restoration on Field Alteration (#498)

• What changed: Fixed _alter_field() to properly restore Meta.indexes after altering fields, preventing silent index loss during migrations.
• Who benefits: Applications running schema migrations that alter indexed fields
• Impact: Indexes are no longer silently dropped during field alterations

Pipeline and CI Infrastructure (#473, #474, #489)

• What changed: Made ADO pipelines public, fixed pipeline runs on PRs, added SQL Server 2025 Linux CI, environment-variable-driven test configuration replacing sed/PowerShell scripts.
• Who benefits: Contributors and maintainers
• Impact: More reliable, transparent, and reproducible CI builds

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Bug Fixes

JSON Lookup Path Handling (#506)

• What changed: Fixed JSON path compilation to prevent double-escaping of special characters. Clarified the JSON path contract between compile_json_path() and compile_json_path_final_key().
• Who benefits: Applications using JSONField lookups
• Impact: Correct JSON queries across all Django versions

Batching and ORDER BY Compatibility (#507)

• What changed: Fixed parameter handling for batching changes,...