[Python-Dev] Dropping __init__.py requirement for subpackages

[Guido van Rossum]

On 4/26/06, André Malo <nd at perlig.de> wrote:
> * Guido van Rossum wrote:
>
> > So I have a very simple proposal: keep the __init__.py requirement for
> > top-level pacakages, but drop it for subpackages. This should be a
> > small change. I'm hesitant to propose *anything* new for Python 2.5,
> > so I'm proposing it for 2.6; if Neal and Anthony think this would be
> > okay to add to 2.5, they can do so.
>
> Not that it would count in any way, but I'd prefer to keep it. How would I
> mark a subdirectory as "not-a-package" otherwise?

What's the use case for that? Have you run into this requirement? And
even if you did, was there a requirement that the subdirectory's name
be the same as a standard library module? If the subdirectory's name
is not constrained, the easiest way to mark it as a non-package is to
put a hyphen or dot in its name; if you can't do that, at least name
it something that you don't need to import.

--
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)