--- /usr/lib/python2.6/pydoc.py	2010-09-15 18:18:36.000000000 +0200
+++ pydoc.py	2011-08-01 14:16:08.316517001 +0200
@@ -1463,8 +1463,8 @@
             except AttributeError: return None
         return object
     else:
-        if hasattr(__builtin__, path):
-            return getattr(__builtin__, path)
+        return reduce(lambda o, x: getattr(o, x, None),
+                path.split('.'), __builtin__)
 
 # --------------------------------------- interactive interpreter interface