[Import-SIG] PEP 420 outstanding issues

[Eric V. Smith]

On 5/11/2012 4:11 PM, PJ Eby wrote:

> If find_loader() always returned a path for a package (even
> non-namespace packages), then this would allow virtual paths to be made
> either inclusive or exclusive of __init__ segments.  That is, it would
> let there be a transition period where you could explicitly declare a
> namespace to get a mixed namespace, but by default the paths would be
> exclusive.
> 
> I'm not sure if anything I just said is clear without an example, so
> I'll throw one in.  Let's say somebody's writing code that spans
> multiple Python versions, and they want their __init__-based namespace
> packages to work, but be forward compatible with new subpackages using
> PEP 420 portions.  Basically, they write some code that calls
> declare_namespace(), which then sets the module's __path__ to be an
> "inclusive virtual" path.  This path object is similar to the current
> virtual path object, except that it *always* uses the second
> find_loader() return value, even if the first value returned is not
> None.  Poof!  Instant "transitional" namespace package,
> backward-compatible with older Python versions, and forward-compatible
> with PEP 420.

But the second value (the paths) won't include anything on the parent
path that occurs after __init__.py is found. Or am I missing something?