[Python-Dev] __file__

[Ron Adam]

Nick Coghlan wrote:
> Michael Foord wrote:
>>> Can't it look for a .py file in the source directory first (1st stat)?
>>> When it's there check for the .pyc in the cache directory (2nd stat,
>>> magic number encoded in filename), if it's not check for .pyc in the
>>> source directory (2nd stat + read for magic number check).  Or am I
>>> missing a subtlety?
>> The problem is doing this little dance for every path on sys.path.
> 
> To unpack this a little bit for those not quite as familiar with the
> import system (and to make it clear for my own benefit!): for a
> top-level module/package, each path on sys.path needs to be eliminated
> as a possible location before the interpreter can move on to check the
> next path in the list.
> 
> So the important number is the number of stat calls on a "miss" (i.e.
> when the requested module/package is not present in a directory).
> Currently, with builtin support for bytecode only files, there are 3
> checks (package directory, py source file, pyc/pyo bytecode file) to be
> made for each path entry.
> 
> The PEP proposes to reduce that to only two in the case of a miss, by
> checking for the cached pyc only if the source file is present (there
> would still be three checks for a "hit", but that only happens at most
> once per module lookup).
> 
> While the PEP is right in saying that a bytecode-only import hook could
> be added, I believe it would actually be a little tricky to write one
> that didn't severely degrade the performance of either normal imports or
> bytecode-only imports. Keeping it in the core import, but turning it off
> by default seems much less likely to have unintended performance
> consequences when it is switched back on.
> 
> Another option is to remove bytecode-only support from the default
> filesystem importer, but keep it for zipimport (since the stat call
> savings don't apply in the latter case).

What if ... a bytecode-only mode is triggered by "__main__" loading from a 
bytecode file, otherwise the .py files are needed and are checked to make 
sure the bytecode files are current.

Ron