Basic Custom User Model for Django 1.5

models.py

from django.db import models
from django.utils import timezone
from django.contrib.auth.models import BaseUserManager, AbstractBaseUser, PermissionsMixin


class UserManager(BaseUserManager):
    def create_user(self, email, first_name, surname, password=None):
        if not email:
            raise ValueError('Users must have an email address')

        user = self.model(
            email=UserManager.normalize_email(email),
            first_name=first_name,
            surname=surname,
        )

        user.set_password(password)
        user.save(using=self._db)
        return user

    def create_superuser(self, email, first_name, surname, password):
        user = self.create_user(
            email,
            first_name=first_name,
            surname=surname,
            password=password,
        )
        user.is_staff = True
        user.is_superuser = True
        user.save(using=self._db)
        return user


class User(AbstractBaseUser, PermissionsMixin):
    email = models.EmailField(
        max_length=255,
        unique=True,
        db_index=True,
    )
    first_name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    surname = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    is_staff = models.BooleanField(default=False)  # Allows admin site access.
    is_active = models.BooleanField(default=True, db_index=True)
    date_joined = models.DateTimeField(default=timezone.now, db_index=True)

    objects = UserManager()

    USERNAME_FIELD = 'email'
    REQUIRED_FIELDS = ['first_name', 'surname']

    def __unicode__(self):
        return self.email

    @property
    def get_full_name(self):
        return self.full_name

    @property
    def get_short_name(self):
        return self.first_name.strip()