Hello Everyone!
Here's a problem with relative imports:
Suppose I have a package called some_package (in a separate directory included in the PYTHONPATH, with an __init__.py file etc.)
This package has a module inside the directory, called "database", and therefore residing in the file some_package/database.py.
Now, what if there's another module, for example inside the site-packages directory, with the same file name (i.e. database.py)?
We have a problem. Since although these modules have different absolute names ("some_package.database" for the first module, and just "database" for the second), when I try to do
import database
from inside some_package, it first of all tries to find the matching file in the some_package directory (i.e. do a relative import). Since it first checks the some_package directory, and finds database.py there,
import database
in fact imports the module with the absolute name some_package.database.
You've just re-discovered the reason you should always use absolute imports. Check out:
http://www.python.org/doc/faq/programming.html#what-are-the-best-practices-for-using-import-in-a-module
STeVe -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
