id	summary	reporter	owner	description	type	status	component	version	severity	resolution	keywords	cc	stage	has_patch	needs_docs	needs_tests	needs_better_patch	easy	ui_ux
4659	"Save my hair! Add doc about ""no module named <blah>"""	anonymous	Jacob	"I spent the better part of half a day whacking against a ""no module named apps.wiki"" problem.  Please, please, save the next guy's hair follicles.

I went into Python and did ""import sys"" and ""print sys.path"" and yep, the directory was on the path!  But still, no joy.  Finally after a long time I dimly remembered that the ""__init__.py"" file might be needed in ""apps,"" and sure enough once I put the file there, ""Joy!""  But my poor scalp may never be the same.  So, two quick docs-suggestions:

(1) Remind folks, at the appropriate time and place, about PYTHONPATH and maybe "".bashrc.""  Point them, of course, to a suitable existing page, e.g. at the Python site.
(2) Remind them specifically about this ""amazingly obscure __init__.py thing,"" because Python's non-message is absolutely uninformative.  I literally ""solved"" this problem by accident.

It is certainly very easy for people who work with a computer programming language every working day, to lose track of just how incomprehensibly frustrating an incomprehensible problem can be, and this is certainly one of those.  I think it's safe to say that this is going to ""bite"" every single Django noobie ... and it also bit me, and I TOO work with Python every single workday.  So, at the various places in the intro and the task-specific docs on the site where the user's likely to encounter this source of baldness, ""just a few words, please.""

Thanks.
"	Uncategorized	closed	Documentation	dev	Normal	wontfix	python import		Unreviewed	0	0	0	0	0	0