= Overview =

'''zipextimporter.py''' contains the ZipExtImporter class which allows to
load Python binary extension modules contained in a zip.archive,
without unpacking them to the file system.

Call the '''zipextimporter.install()''' function to install the import hook,
add a zip-file containing '''.pyd''' or '''.dll''' extension modules to '''sys.path''',
and import them.

It contains a '''_memimporter.pyd''' extension which uses code from Joachim
Bauch's [[http://www.joachim-bauch.de/tutorials/load_dll_memory.html|MemoryModule]] library.  This library emulates the win32 api
function LoadLibrary.

= License =
LGPL (because that's what MemoryModule uses).

= Sample usage =

{{{
>>> import zipextimporter
>>> zipextimporter.install()
>>> import sys
>>> sys.path.append("lib.zip")
>>> import _socket
>>> _socket.__file__
'c:\\sf\\py2exe\\hacks\\memimp\\lib.zip\\_socket.pyd'
>>> _socket.__loader__
<ZipExtensionImporter at a74480>
>>>
}}}

= Bugs =

'''reload()''' on already imported extension modules does not work
correctly: It happily loads the extension a second time.

zipextimporter doesn't yet work for extensions in packages, but I have a fix for that.

= Download =

Sourcecode [[http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/memimporter-0.0.1.zip|memimporter-0.0.1.zip]]

Installer for Python 2.3 [[http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/memimporter-0.0.1.win32-py2.3.exe|memimporter-0.0.1-win32.py2.3.exe]]

Installer for Python 2.4 [[http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/memimporter-0.0.1.win32-py2.4.exe|memimporter-0.0.1-win32.py2.4.exe]]


= Comments, Feedback =

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