On 11/28/2016 08:38 AM, Guido van Rossum wrote:
2. After exhausting sys.path, search it again just for .missing.py files (or perhaps remember the location of the .missing.py file during the first search but don't act immediately on it -- this has the same effect). - Pro: allows user to install their own version. - Con: if the user has a matching file by accident, that file will be imported, causing more confusion.
I personally would weigh these so as to prefer (2). The option of installing your own version when the standard version doesn't exist seems reasonable; there may be reasons that you can't or don't want to install the distribution's version.
I also agree that (2) is the better option. General Python philosophy seems to be to not prohibit actions unless there is a *really* good reason (i.e. sum()ing strings), and option (1) would require installing third-party modules into the stdlib to workaround the prohibition. -- ~Ethan~