[M.-A. Lemburg]
There has been some discussion on the import-sig about using the __import__ hook for practically all imports, even early in the startup phase. This allows import hooks to completely take over the import mechanism even for the Python standard lib.
Thomas Heller has provided a patch which I am currently checking. Basically all C level imports using PyImport_ImportModule() are then redirected to PyImport_Import() which uses the __import__ hook if available.
My testing has so far not produced any strange effects. If anyone objects to this change, please speak up. Else, I'll check it in later today.
I don't understand the change, from the above. Neither exactly what it does nor why it's being done. So, impossible to say. Was the patch posted to SourceForge? Does it have a bad effect on startup time? Is there any *conceivable* way in which it could change semantics? Or, if not, what's the point?