[Python-Dev] Dropping __init__.py requirement for subpackages

[Phillip J. Eby]

At 04:33 PM 4/26/2006 -0400, Joe Smith wrote:
>It seems to me that the right way to fix this is to simply make a small
>change to the error message.
>On a failed import, have the code check if there is a directory that would
>have been  the requested package if
>it had contained an __init__ module. If there is then append a message like
>"You might be missing an __init__.py file".
>
>It might also be good to check that the directory actually contained python
>modules.

This is a great idea, but might be hard to implement in practice with the 
current C implementation of import, at least for the general case.

But if we're talking about subpackages only, the common case is a 
one-element __path__, and for that case there might be something we could do.

(The number of path items is relevant because the existence of a 
correctly-named but init-less directory should not stop later path items 
from being searched, so the actual "error" occurs far from the point where 
the empty directory would've been detected.)