Fixed #20819 -- Return 404 instead of 500 error when `staticfiles` view is used in production.

docs/releases/1.7.txt

@@ -122,6 +122,14 @@ Miscellaneous
 * Loading empty fixtures emits a ``RuntimeWarning`` rather than raising
   :class:`~django.core.management.CommandError`.
 
+* :view:`~django.contrib.staticfiles.views.serve` will now raise an
+  :exc:`~django.http.Http404` exception instead of
+  :exc:`~from django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured` when :setting:`DEBUG`
+  is ``True``. This change removes the need to conditionally add the view to
+  your root URLconf, which in turn makes it safe to reverse by name. It also
+  removes the ability for visitors to generate spurious HTTP 500 errors by
+  requesting static files that don't exist or haven't been collected yet.
+
 Features deprecated in 1.7
 ==========================