[Python-Dev] Import redesign [LONG]

[Jean-Claude Wippler]

Guido van Rossum wrote:

[...]
> Note that the interpretation of __file__ could be problematic.  To
> what value do you set __file__ for a module loaded from a zip archive?

Makefiles use "archive(entry)" (this also supports nesting if needed).

[...] 
> I'd like to see a description of how someone like Jim A would build a
> single-file application using the new mechanism.  This could
> completely replace freeze.  (Freeze currently requires a C compiler;
> that's bad.)
[...]

This may be off-topic, but has anyone considered what it would take to
load shared libs out of an archive?  One way is to extract on-the-fly to
a temporary area.  A refinement is to leave extracted files there as
cache, and perhaps even to extract to a file with a name derived from
its MD5 digest (this way multiple users and even Python installations
can share the cache).  Would it be useful to define a "standard" area?

-- Jean-Claude