[Python-Dev] Clarifications for import PEPs (302 and 328) (original) (raw)

Brett Cannon brett at python.org
Tue Apr 24 01:23:22 CEST 2007

On 4/23/07, Phillip J. Eby <pje at telecommunity.com> wrote:

At 03:16 PM 4/23/2007 -0700, Brett Cannon wrote: >The PEP does not explicitly state how to signal that a loader cannot >load a module it is asked to. This could happen if someone called a >loader without consulting its respective importer. I would want to >add something like: >""" >If the loader is unable to load the specified module and a specific >exception is not raised in determining this, ImportError is raised. >This may occur if a loader is called without first consulting an >importer as to if the loader can load the specified module but the >loader is aware of the fact it cannot fulfill the request made. >"""

Okay, now I understand what you're trying to say, but I still don't understand what the purpose is. I mean, what else would you do except raise an error? I.e., isn't the actual contract "load the specified module or raise an exception of some kind"?

Not if you read the PEP. It doesn't explicitly say what should happen.

I want to standardize on raising ImportError. The PEP itself has two ways of signaling an error; find_module() returns None instead of raising an error to signal it can't do something while path hooks raise ImportError. I just want to be as explicit as possible.

-Brett

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