[Python-ideas] Simpler namespace packages

[Mike Graham]

On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 10:26 AM, Alex Light <scialexlight at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 10:03 AM, Mike Graham <mikegraham at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Would it be possible to allow a more simple definition, for example
>> putting the dot itself in the filename? Where these would be similar?
>>
>> site-packages/
>>    foo/
>>        __init__.py
>>    foo.bar.py
>>    foo.baz/
>>        __init__.py
>>        qux.py
>>     foo.spam.eggs.py
>>
>> and
>>
>> site-packages/
>>    foo/
>>        __init__.py
>>        bar.py
>>        baz/
>>            __init__.py
>>            qux.py
>>        spam/
>>            __init__.py #empty
>>            eggs.py
>
> I fail to see how the first example is clearer than the second. Indeed
> the opposite seems to be true.
> What i think you need to understand is that the name of the module is the
> same as the path to it.
> IMO the current system emphasizes that very strongly and this proposal would
> only make the
> concept less clear.
> --Alex

The first example ISN'T clearer than the second. I think the second is
more easily understood to be sure. The first example, I'm saying, may
be clearer than other implementations of namespace packages, not
clearer than a normal package.

A namespace package is one where the top level(s) aren't for a normal
package. If foo.bar and foo.baz and foo.qux were distributed
completely separately, foo would be a namespace package.

Currently, a namespace package might look like

site-packages/
    foo/ # No __init__.py in foo
        bar/
            __init__.py
            spam.py
    foo.bar-1.2.3-py2.7-nspkg.pth # A pth file to tell Python how to
import the package
    foo.bar-1.2.3-py2.7.egg-info/
        namespace_packages.txt # This would say "foo" in it
        ....other stuff

and PEP382 tries to improve the situation a bit. I'm hoping we can
come up with something that is easily understood.


Mike