Understanding Django's LoginRequiredMiddleware Customization

Your approach to customizing the LoginRequiredMiddleware to exempt entire apps from authentication requirements is a valid solution for your use case.

Why This Isn't Built-In

Django's LoginRequiredMiddleware (introduced in Django 5.1) is designed with a specific philosophy in mind - it provides a way to require authentication for all views by default, with the ability to selectively exempt specific views using the @login_not_required decorator.

The middleware doesn't include app-level exemptions by default because:

1. Django generally favors explicit declarations over implicit ones
2. The view-level approach gives more granular control
3. Different projects have different organizational needs

Your Implementation

Your customization is a good solution for your specific requirements. By overriding the process_view method, you're adding app-level exemptions while preserving the original functionality:

PYTHONCopied
class LoginRequiredMiddleware(DjangoLoginRequiredMiddleware):
    def process_view(self, request, view_func, view_args, view_kwargs):
        match = request.resolver_match  # this was added 

        if request.user.is_authenticated:
            return None
        
        if match.app_name in LOGIN_NOT_REQUIRED_APPS:  # this was added 
            return None

        if not getattr(view_func, "login_required", True):
            return None

        return self.handle_no_permission(request, view_func)

Alternative Approaches

If you prefer not to customize the middleware, you could also:

1. Use the @login_not_required decorator at the URL pattern level using django.views.decorators.cache.decorator_from_middleware_with_args

2. Create a base view class for your public apps that includes the @login_not_required decorator

3. Use URL namespaces and a custom middleware that checks the namespace instead of app_name

Your current approach is clean and maintainable, especially for a SAAS application where you have clear boundaries between public and private sections.