Can not import modules if sys.prefix contains DELIM

[cedk]

BPO	31210
Nosy	@brettcannon, @pfmoore, @ncoghlan, @vstinner, @tjguk, @cedk, @bitdancer, @ericsnowcurrently, @zware, @eryksun, @zooba

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2019-09-26.00:55:34.746>
created_at = <Date 2017-08-15.12:29:44.531>
labels = ['interpreter-core', 'invalid', 'type-bug', '3.7']
title = 'Can not import modules if sys.prefix contains DELIM'
updated_at = <Date 2019-09-26.00:55:34.745>
user = 'https://github.com/cedk'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2019-09-26.00:55:34.745>
actor = 'vstinner'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2019-09-26.00:55:34.746>
closer = 'vstinner'
components = ['Interpreter Core']
creation = <Date 2017-08-15.12:29:44.531>
creator = 'ced'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 31210
keywords = []
message_count = 17.0
messages = ['300293', '300294', '300295', '300296', '300302', '300304', '300307', '300308', '300329', '300360', '300361', '300370', '300374', '300375', '300388', '300403', '353247']
nosy_count = 11.0
nosy_names = ['brett.cannon', 'paul.moore', 'ncoghlan', 'vstinner', 'tim.golden', 'ced', 'r.david.murray', 'eric.snow', 'zach.ware', 'eryksun', 'steve.dower']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'not a bug'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue31210'
versions = ['Python 3.7']

[cedk]

If the path on which Python is installed contains the DELIM, the resulted sys.path is split.
I think maybe there should be a escape mechanism for the PYTHONPATH.

[bitdancer]

By DELIM, you mean the shell ':'? As far as I've been able to determine there is no way defined in posix to escape that character. If you can find one, please let us know. (I think the same is true for the Windows semicolon but I'm not sure.)

[cedk]

Yes I mean ':' for posix.
Indeed I do not known a posix way to escape the colon (it was discussed here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14661373/how-to-escape-colon-in-path-on-unix).
But it does not mean that the method makepathobject could not support one. I'm thinking about path single-quoted.

[bitdancer]

I'm not sure there is anything we should do here, then, because we are conforming to the posix parsing for PATH in our PYTHONPATH implementation.

I think if you want to pursue this further you should take it to the python-ideas mailing list. I'm going to close the issue, but you can reopen it if python-ideas thinks it is worth doing something (and there is something we can reasonably do :)

[cedk]

A last comment, I do not think it is an issue to follow posix way to parse PATH. But for me, the problem is that Python adds without sanitation the sys.prefix to the PYTHONPATH. So I think internally Python should not use PATH notation to extend the PYTHONPATH because it is not a robust notation.

[bitdancer]

You mean to create the entries on sys.path that do not come from the PYTHONPATH?

[cedk]

On 2017-08-15 17:32, R. David Murray wrote:

You mean to create the entries on sys.path that do not come from the PYTHONPATH?

Yes because such path could contain ':'.

[bitdancer]

OK, that seems reasonable to me. I'll reopen the issue. Assuming other developers agree that this should be changed, I'm not sure if it will qualify as a bug or an enhancement, so I'm leaving versions unselected for now :)