unittest in python: ignore an import from the code I want to test

Question

I have a python program that imports pythoncom (and uses pythoncom.CoCreateInstance from it). I want to create a unittest for the program logic without it importing pythoncom (so I can run the test on Linux as well).

What options are there? Can I do it without modifying the system under test?

What I found so far:

sys.modules["pythoncom"] = "test"
import module_that_imports_pythoncom

My problem with it is if I have:

from pythoncom.something import something

I'll get:

ImportError: No module named something.something

And sys.modules["something.something"] or sys.modules["pythoncom.something.something"] doesn't work.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

You could put import pythoncom into a try except block.

Answer 2

Ok, what if you modify PYTHONPATH in the tests, and make a new package on the filesystem in a testing directory called pythoncom with the necessary subdirectories?