paths: sleeping at the wheel

[david winkler]

I have been using Python for a while and have just noticed that when
accessing a script from the command line like this: "python
scriptname.py", the path must be cwd or fully qualified.  I have tried
setting my system path without success.  Is there a workaround to this
limitation (or a clarification to my misunderstanding)?  I already know
how to avoid this type of situation by running the script like this:
"scriptname".  I also know how to access modules using PYTHONPATH.