[Import-SIG] PEP 420 issue: standard namespace packages

[Antoine Pitrou]

On Sat, 05 May 2012 09:18:13 +0200
martin at v.loewis.de wrote:
> I'd like the PEP to rule that the standard library may
> designate some of its packages as namespace packages,
> and also specifically declare the encodings package as
> a namespace package. This would allow to install additional
> encodings just by mere installation, without the need of
> having a search function registered at startup.

What would be the impact on startup time when encodings get imported?

The PEP 420 algorithm makes performance of namespace packages
potentially much lower than regular packages (if sys.path is long or
parts of it reside on a slow filesystem).

Regards

Antoine.