[Python-Dev] Dropping init.py requirement for subpackages (original) (raw)

Delaney, Timothy (Tim) tdelaney at avaya.com
Thu Apr 27 01:12:02 CEST 2006

Guido van Rossum wrote:

http://python.org/sf/1477281

(You can call it 'oldtimer-repellant' if you want to use it to convince people there isn't any real backward-compatibility issue.) I'd worry that it'll cause complaints when the warning is incorrect and a certain directory is being skipped intentionally. E.g. the "string" directory that someone had. Getting a warning like this can be just as upsetting to newbies!

I really think it would be more useful having an ImportError containing a suggestion than having a warning. Anyone who knows it's bogus can just ignore it.

I'd probably make it that all directories that could have been imports get listed.

FWIW I was definitely a kneejerk -1. After reading all the messages in this thread, I think I'm now a non-kneejerk -1. It seems like gratuitous change introducing inconsistency for minimal benefit - esp. if there is a notification that a directory could have been a package on import failure. I think it's a useful feature of Python that it's simple to distinguish a package from a non-package.

Tim Delaney

More information about the Python-Dev mailing list