Deprecated dirs argument to override TEMPLATE_DIRS.

Cancels 2f0566fa. Refs #4278.

docs/ref/templates/api.txt

@@ -659,25 +659,27 @@ The Python API
     the template with the given name. If the template doesn't exist, it raises
     ``django.template.TemplateDoesNotExist``.
 
-    To override the :setting:`TEMPLATE_DIRS` setting, use the ``dirs``
-    parameter. The ``dirs`` parameter may be a tuple or list.
-
     .. versionchanged:: 1.7
 
        The ``dirs`` parameter was added.
 
+    .. versionchanged:: 1.8
+
+       The ``dirs`` parameter was deprecated.
+
 .. function:: select_template(template_name_list[, dirs])
 
     ``select_template`` is just like ``get_template``, except it takes a list
     of template names. Of the list, it returns the first template that exists.
 
-    To override the :setting:`TEMPLATE_DIRS` setting, use the ``dirs``
-    parameter. The ``dirs`` parameter may be a tuple or list.
-
     .. versionchanged:: 1.7
 
        The ``dirs`` parameter was added.
 
+    .. versionchanged:: 1.8
+
+       The ``dirs`` parameter was deprecated.
+
 For example, if you call ``get_template('story_detail.html')`` and have the
 above :setting:`TEMPLATE_DIRS` setting, here are the files Django will look for,
 in order:

docs/releases/1.8.txt

@@ -1053,6 +1053,17 @@ The decorators :func:`~django.test.override_settings` and
 class decorators. As a consequence, when overriding ``setUpClass()`` or
 ``tearDownClass()``, the ``super`` implementation should always be called.
 
+``dirs`` argument of template-finding functions
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The following functions no longer accept a ``dirs`` parameter to override
+:setting:`TEMPLATE_DIRS`:
+
+* :func:`django.template.loader.get_template()`
+* :func:`django.template.loader.select_template()`
+* :func:`django.shortcuts.render()`
+* :func:`django.shortcuts.render_to_response()`
+
 ``django.template.loader.BaseLoader``
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

docs/topics/http/shortcuts.txt

@@ -63,13 +63,14 @@ Optional arguments
     :ref:`namespaced URL resolution strategy <topics-http-reversing-url-namespaces>`
     for more information.
 
-``dirs``
-    A tuple or list of values to override the :setting:`TEMPLATE_DIRS` setting.
-
 .. versionchanged:: 1.7
 
    The ``dirs`` parameter was added.
 
+.. versionchanged:: 1.8
+
+   The ``dirs`` parameter was deprecated.
+
 Example
 -------
 
@@ -95,15 +96,6 @@ This example is equivalent to::
         return HttpResponse(t.render(c),
             content_type="application/xhtml+xml")
 
-If you want to override the :setting:`TEMPLATE_DIRS` setting, use the
-``dirs`` parameter::
-
-    from django.shortcuts import render
-
-    def my_view(request):
-        # View code here...
-        return render(request, 'index.html', dirs=('custom_templates',))
-
 ``render_to_response``
 ======================
 
@@ -145,13 +137,14 @@ Optional arguments
     The MIME type to use for the resulting document. Defaults to the value of
     the :setting:`DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE` setting.
 
-``dirs``
-    A tuple or list of values to override the :setting:`TEMPLATE_DIRS` setting.
-
 .. versionchanged:: 1.7
 
    The ``dirs`` parameter was added.
 
+.. versionchanged:: 1.8
+
+   The ``dirs`` parameter was deprecated.
+
 Example
 -------
 
@@ -177,15 +170,6 @@ This example is equivalent to::
         return HttpResponse(t.render(c),
             content_type="application/xhtml+xml")
 
-If you want to override the :setting:`TEMPLATE_DIRS` setting, use the
-``dirs`` parameter::
-
-    from django.shortcuts import render_to_response
-
-    def my_view(request):
-        # View code here...
-        return render_to_response('index.html', dirs=('custom_templates',))
-
 ``redirect``
 ============