I don't think getting a spurious warning is as upsetting as getting no warning but the damned thing just not working. At least you have something to google for. And the warning includes the original line of source that triggered it *and* the directory (or directories) it's complaining about, which is quite a lot of helpful hints.

The clashes with directories that aren't intended to be packages *and* a module of the same name is imported, yes, that's a real problem. It's not any worse than if we change package imports the way you originally proposed, though, and I think the actual number of spurious errors is very small (which self-respecting module still does 'import string', eh? :-) I don't think the fix for such a warning is going to be non-trivial.

Of course, I only consider *my* reasons to be valid, and mine weren't knee-jerk or tool-related. I don't think Python should be going "Oh, what you wanted wasn't possible, but I think I know what you wanted, let me do it for you", first of all because it's not very Pythonic, and second of all because it doesn't lower the learning curve, it just delays some upward motion a little (meaning the curve may become steeper, later.) A clear warning, on the other hand, can be a helpful nudge towards the 'a-HA' moment.
 

Alrighty then. The list has about 12 hours to convince me (and you) that it's a bad idea to generate that warning. I'll be asleep by the time the trunk un-freezes, and I have a string of early meetings tomorrow. I'll get to it somewhere in the afternoon :)