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

["Martin v. Löwis"]

Phillip J. Eby wrote:
> My counter-proposal: to be considered a package, a directory must contain 
> at least one module (which of course can be __init__).  This allows the "is 
> it a package?" question to be answered with only one directory read, as is 
> the case now.  Think of it also as a nudge in favor of "flat is better than 
> nested".

I assume you want

import x.y

to fail if y is an empty directory (or non-empty, but without .py
files). I don't see a value in implementing such a restriction.
If there are no .py files in a tree, then there would be no point
in importing it, so applications will typically not import an
empty directory.

Implementing an expensive test that will never give a positive result
and causes no problems if skipped should be skipped.

I can't see the problem this would cause to tools: they should assume
any subdirectory can be a package, with all consequences this causes.
If the consequences are undesirable, users should just stop putting
non-package subdirectories into a package if they want to use the
tool. However, I doubt there are undesirable consequences (although
consequences might be surprising at first).

Regards,
Martin