Having just slogged my way through the entire import thread so far, I've got to ask why nobody else has demanded a PEP before we go any further? There are too many competing proposals; we need a good summary of what design we're planning, plus a summary of why all other proposals are rejected.
I'm a very strong -1 on anything until there's a PEP.
Well, there's PEP 273 which only discusses a feature (import from zip files) and an API (strings in sys.path that reference zip files). The PEP stands (I pronounce it accepted if it helps). But I agree that any API changes beyond that (either in C or in Python) need more consideration, and a PEP would be fine. BTW, it's curious to see the discussion follow the path of the sun around the earth. :-) --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)