[Python-Dev] ImportError on no permission

[Georg Brandl]

Martin v. Löwis schrieb:
>> Now, why don't we change the semantics as follows: if a file with matching name
>> exists (in import.c::find_module), but opening fails, ImportError is raised
>> immediately with the concrete error message, and without trying the rest of
>> sys.path. That shouldn't cause any working and sane setup to break, or did I
>> overlook something obvious here?
> 
> I wonder how this would behave if a directory on sys.path was
> unreadable. You might get an ImportError on *any* import, as
> it tries the unreadable directory first, gets a permission error,
> and immediately aborts.

That case should be handled differently, yes.
My case is that you have a file in the directory with the correct name,
but opening it fails (this obviously requires a two-step process, first
find the file, then open it).

> Now, I think it is quite possible that you have inaccessible
> directories on sys.path, e.g. when you inherit PYTHONPATH from
> a parent process.
> 
> So I would rather let importing proceed, and add a note to the
> error message that some files could not be read.

The warning idea is also fine with me, if it's limited to the above case.

Georg


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