[Python-Dev] Empty directory is a namespace? (original) (raw)

martin at v.loewis.de martin at v.loewis.de
Sat Jun 23 17:55:24 CEST 2012

That's true. I would have hoped for it to be recognized only when there's at least one module or package inside, but it doesn't sound easy to check for (especially in the recursive namespace packages case - is that possible?).

Yes - a directory becomes a namespace package by not having an init.py, so the "namespace package" case will likely become the default, and people will start removing the empty init.pys when they don't need to support 3.2- anymore.

If you wonder whether a nested namespace package may have multiple portions: that can also happen, i.e. if you have z3c.recipe.ldap, z3c.recipe.template, z3c.recipe.sphinxdoc. They may all get installed as separate zip files, each contributing a portion to z3c.recipe.

In the long run, I expect that we will see namespace packages such as org.openstack, com.canonical, com.ibm, etc. Then, "com" is a namespace package, com.canonical is a namespace package, and com.canonical.launchpad might still be a namespace package with multiple portions.

Regards, Martin

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