[Jython-dev] zip files on sys.path

[<bc...@wo...>]

I have posted my attempt to add some support for a different deployment
method of jython applications. Some of the ideas which have been
discussed under the title of "poor man freezing" are included but the
patch does not attempt to include everything.

>  http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=442166&group_id=12867&atid=312867

Here is what the patch adds:

- zip files can be added to sys.path.
- The zipfile will be kept open by the sys.path list by replacing the
  string in sys.path with a string subclass (SyspathArchive). The
  zipfile is closed by GC and all imported modules are unloaded.
- The zipfiles is scanned by the first import after adding the zip file
  to syspath and the result is always stored in cachedir.

Saving the scan result on the zipfile in cachedir is somewhat
controversial if the goal is to create a fully self-contained and
self-executable jython application. OTOH I still don't think it is a big
problem saving the scan-index in cachedir during development. For a
deployed application we will have to somehow save the scan results for
all the java .jar files inside the applications.

When we do that, we can also add new main startup class which will look
for the main python script name and other startup options in the
manifest file. 

The patch does *not* attempt to:

- avoid dynamic proxy creation.
- allow importing .py files from classpath .jars
- allow importing jythonc'ed modules in the interpreter.
- etc.

regards,
finn