Dynamic class loading in Python 2.6: RuntimeWarning: Parent module 'plugins' not found while handling absolute import

Question

I am working on a plugin system where plugin modules are loaded like this:

def load_plugins():
   plugins=glob.glob(\"plugins/*.py\")
   instances=[]
   for         


        

Answer 1

If the directory plugins were a real package (contained __init__.py fine), you could easily use pkgutils to enumerate its plugin files and load them.

import pkgutil
# import our package
import plugins
list(pkgutil.iter_modules(plugins.__path__))

However, it can work without a plugin package anyway, try this:

import pkgutil
list(pkgutil.iter_modules(["plugins"]))

Also it is possible to make a package that only exists at runtime:

import types
import sys
plugins = types.ModuleType("plugins")
plugins.__path__ = ["plugins"]

sys.modules["plugins"] = plugins
import plugins.testplugin

However that hack that was mostly for fun!