How do I do 'from foo import *' using Python's __import__ function

Question

I want to replace settings.py in my Django system with a module implemented as a directory settings containing __init__.py. This will try to import a module named after the server, thus allowing for per-server settings.

If I don't know the name of a module before I import it then I can't use the import keyword but must instead use the __import__ function. But this does not add the contents of the module to the settings module. I need the equivalent of from MACHINE_NAME import *. Or I need a way to iterate over vars(m) (where m is the loaded module) and add them to the current namespace. But I can't work out how to refer to the current namespace in order to make the assignment. In other words, I can't use setattr(x, ..) or modify x.__dict__, because I don't know what to use for x.

I can't think of much else to try now apart from using exec. This seems a little feeble to me. Am I missing some aspect of Pythonic introspection that would allow me to manipulate the current scope while still in it?

Answer 1

For similar situation where based on lang setting I import different messages in messages.py module it is something like

# set values in current namespace
for name in vars(messages):
    v = getattr(messages, name)
    globals()[name] = v

Btw why do you want to create a package for settings.py? whatever you want to do can be done in settings.py directly?