[Python-Dev] Add a -z interpreter flag to execute a zip file

[Phillip J. Eby]

At 09:13 PM 7/12/2007 -0700, Andy C wrote:
>I can definitely see why it "just makes sense", and my first thought
>was indeed to name it __main__.  But then you lose the ability to make
>a distinction:  What does "if __name__ == '__main__" mean in
>__main__.py?  : )

The same as anywhere else; it'll just always be true.  :)

>  If someone tries does import __main__ from another
>module in the program, won't that result in an infinite loop?

No, for two reasons.  First, importing __main__ always returns 
whatever the start script is using as a __main__ module.  Second, 
even if you're in the middle of __main__ itself, the module is 
already in sys.modules.  So this is a non-issue.


>At Google some people do "import sitecustomize" and get values that
>were computed earlier by the sitecustomize.  I could see the same kind
>of thing happen with __main__.py.

Yes, but it won't work unless the overall program was launched via 
*that particular* __main__.py -- running from the interpreter prompt 
for example, those values won't be there.  So, people will learn 
quickly why that doesn't work.


> > Testing your package before you zip it, would be one.  :)  My
> > personal main interest was in being able to add an item to sys.path
> > without having to set $PYTHONPATH on Windows.  That's why I'd like it
> > to be possible to use -z more than once (or whatever the option 
> ends up as).
>
>Where would you do that?  Just typing it literally on the command
>line?

Yes.


> > >   I think it's sufficient to treat it as a documented "trick"
> > >that you can substitute a whole directory for a zip file with the -z
> > >flag.  If there is a concrete suggestion, I'd like to discuss it, but
> > >otherwise it seems like we'll get bogged down in expanding use cases.
> >
> > Eh? First you say there aren't any use cases, now you say there'll be
> > too many?  I'm confused.  The only competing proposal besides what
> > I've suggested was the one to add an option to "runpy", and IMO
> > that's dead in the water due to shebang argument limits.
>
>As implemented the patch is fairly simple, and shouldn't have any
>unintended consequences.  I'm not necessarily opposed to making it
>more general and thinking about sys.path vs. a zip file specifically.

I think it can be replaced with using standard importer detection of 
sys.argv[0], to decide whether it is an importable location 
(dir/zip), and then importing __main__, with fallback to the old 
script behavior.  This is forward-compatible with other import 
mechanisms, and supports #! lines better for zipfiles, since no -z 
option is needed.