why _import__ only works from interactive interpreter?

[linuxnow at gmail.com]

You are absolutely right, it's that empty entry that allows the
absolute path to work.
I'll probably add the path to sys.path, but as this is only a config
file from which I need just a few vars, I'll try to use execfile,
looking in past threads it looks like a better option for this use, I
really don't need the new path, it could introduce subtle bugs as it is
not something expected.

Any equivalent way of doing the same with execfile?