The script below creates a basic PEP 420 style package with a single module in it ('package.sub') and tries to import that module

With 3.5 the script runs without problems and prints 42 (as expected). 

With a 3.5 (fresh checkout as of 2015-05-14) I get an SystemError:

$ python3.5 demo.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "demo.py", line 10, in <module>
    import package.mod
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 958, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 947, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 657, in _load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 575, in module_from_spec
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 519, in _init_module_attrs
SystemError: Parent module '' not loaded, cannot perform relative import

#######
import os

os.mkdir('path1')
os.mkdir('path1/package')
with open('path1/package/mod.py', 'w') as fp:
    fp.write('print(42)\n')

import site
site.addsitedir('path1')
import package.mod

I presume you meant that it works with 3.4?

The problem is right where the traceback says.  Apparently there is a gap in the namespace package tests that I slipped through with my recent work to split out path-based import.  I'll work up a patch.

Hmm, look like the test suite masks the issue due to the fact that importlib gets imported before running the applicable tests in test_namespace_pkgs.py.  This causes _frozen_importlib.__package__ to get set properly, thus masking the problem.

The problem is the use of relative imports in importlib._bootstrap.  The solution is to accomplish this in a different way.

Here's a fix.  If I don't hear from anyone right away I'll push it in a few hours (or tomorrow morning).

New changeset 46b2c99121f5 by Eric Snow in branch 'default':
Issue #24192: Fix namespace package imports.
https://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/46b2c99121f5

I can confirm that this fixes the problem I was having, both for the sample code I posted and for the real codebase I extracted this from.

Thanks.

Great!  The buildbots are happy too. :)