documentation for the zipimport module using contributed patch

(closes SF bug #853800; markup adjusted)

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+\section{\module{zipimport} ---
+         Import modules from Zip archives}
+
+\declaremodule{standard}{zipimport}
+\modulesynopsis{support for importing Python modules from ZIP archives.}
+\moduleauthor{Just van Rossum}{just@letterror.com}
+
+\versionadded{2.3}
+
+This module adds the ability to import Python modules (\file{*.py},
+\file{*.py[co]}) and packages from ZIP-format archives. It is usually
+not needed to use the \module{zipimport} module explicitly; it is
+automatically used by the builtin \keyword{import} mechanism for
+\code{sys.path} items that are paths to ZIP archives.
+
+Typically, \code{sys.path} is a list of directory names as strings.  This
+module also allows an item of \code{sys.path} to be a string naming a ZIP
+file archive. The ZIP archive can contain a subdirectory structure to
+support package imports, and a path within the archive can be specified to
+only import from a subdirectory.  For example, the path
+\file{/tmp/example.zip/lib/} would only import from the
+\file{lib/} subdirectory within the archive.
+
+Any files may be present in the ZIP archive, but only files \file{.py} and
+\file{.py[co]} are available for import.  ZIP import of dynamic modules
+(\file{.pyd}, \file{.so}) is disallowed. Note that if an archive only
+contains \file{.py} files, Python will not attempt to modify the archive
+by adding the corresponding \file{.pyc} or \file{.pyo} file, meaning that
+if a ZIP archive doesn't contain \file{.pyc} files, importing may be rather
+slow.
+
+Using the built-in \function{reload()} function will
+fail if called on a module loaded from a ZIP archive; it is unlikely that
+\function{reload()} would be needed, since this would imply that the ZIP
+has been altered during runtime.
+
+The available attributes of this module are:
+
+\begin{excdesc}{ZipImporterError}
+  Exception raised by zipimporter objects. It's a subclass of
+  \exception{ImportError}, so it can be caught as \exception{ImportError},
+  too.
+\end{excdesc}
+
+\begin{classdesc*}{zipimporter}
+  The class for importing ZIP files.  See
+  ``\citetitle{zipimporter Objects}'' (section \ref{zipimporter-objects})
+  for constructor details.
+\end{classdesc*}
+
+
+\begin{seealso}
+  \seetitle[http://www.pkware.com/appnote.html]{PKZIP Application
+            Note}{Documentation on the ZIP file format by Phil
+            Katz, the creator of the format and algorithms used.}
+
+  \seepep{0273}{Import Modules from Zip Archives}{Written by James C.
+          Ahlstrom, who also provided an implementation. Python 2.3
+          follows the specification in PEP 273, but uses an
+          implementation written by Just van Rossum that uses the import
+          hooks described in PEP 302.}
+
+  \seepep{0302}{New Import Hooks}{The PEP to add the import hooks that help
+          this module work.}
+\end{seealso}
+
+
+\subsection{zipimporter Objects \label{zipimporter-objects}}
+
+\begin{classdesc}{zipimporter}{archivepath} 
+  Create a new zipimporter instance. \var{archivepath} must be a path to
+  a zipfile.  \class{ZipImportError} is raised if \var{archivepath} doesn't
+  point to a valid ZIP archive.
+\end{classdesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{find_module}{fullname\optional{, path}}
+  Search for a module specified by \var{fullname}. \var{fullname} must be
+  the fully qualified (dotted) module name. It returns the zipimporter
+  instance itself if the module was found, or \constant{None} if it wasn't.
+  The optional \var{path} argument is ignored---it's there for 
+  compatibility with the importer protocol.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{get_code}{fullname}
+  Return the code object for the specified module. Raise
+  \class{ZipImportError} if the module couldn't be found.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{get_data}{pathname}
+  Return the data associated with \var{pathname}. Raise \exception{IOError}
+  if the file wasn't found.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{get_source}{fullname}
+  Return the source code for the specified module. Raise
+  \class{ZipImportError} if the module couldn't be found, return
+  \constant{None} if the archive does contain the module, but has
+  no source for it.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{is_package}{fullname}
+  Return True if the module specified by \var{fullname} is a package.
+  Raise \class{ZipImportError} if the module couldn't be found.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{load_module}{fullname}
+  Load the module specified by \var{fullname}. \var{fullname} must be the
+  fully qualified (dotted) module name. It returns the imported
+  module, or raises \class{ZipImportError} if it wasn't found.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\subsection{Examples}
+\nodename{zipimport Examples}
+
+Here is an example that imports a module from a ZIP archive - note that
+the \module{zipimport} module is not explicitly used.
+
+\begin{verbatim}
+$ unzip -l /tmp/example.zip
+Archive:  /tmp/example.zip
+  Length     Date   Time    Name
+ --------    ----   ----    ----
+     8467  11-26-02 22:30   jwzthreading.py
+ --------                   -------
+     8467                   1 file
+$ ./python
+Python 2.3 (#1, Aug 1 2003, 19:54:32) 
+>>> import sys
+>>> sys.path.insert(0, '/tmp/example.zip')  # Add .zip file to front of path
+>>> import jwzthreading
+>>> jwzthreading.__file__
+'/tmp/example.zip/jwzthreading.py'
+\end{verbatim}