Getting a list of all modules

[Steven D'Aprano]

I'm looking for a programmatic way to get a list of all Python modules 
and packages. Not just those already imported, but all those which 
*could* be imported.

I have a quick-and-dirty function which half does the job:


def get_modules():
    extensions = ('.py', '.pyc', '.pyo', '.so', '.dll')
    matches = set()
    for location in sys.path:
        if location == '': location = '.'
        if os.path.isdir(location):
            for name in os.listdir(location):
                base, ext = os.path.splitext(name)
                if ext in extensions:
                    matches.add(base)
    return sorted(matches)



but I know it's wrong (it doesn't handle packages correctly, or zip 
files, doesn't follow .pth files, has a very naive understanding of cross-
platform issues, fails to include built-in modules that don't live in the 
file system, and probably more).

Is this problem already solved? Can anyone make any suggestions?



-- 
Steven