I want to use the included test.regrtest (located in 
$pythondir/lib/python[ver]/test) to regression test some of my own 
scripts located in directory myDir.  The script has some nice 
configurability features to skip some tests based on machine 
configurations, etc. that a vanilla unittest suite doesn't include 
automatically.  However, it seems that the script regrtest.py has an 
error following the __import__ line.

Here's my setup:

/sample.py
/myDir
    /__init__.py
    /test_file1.py
    /test_file2.py
    /...

in sample.py:

{{{
#!python
#!/usr/bin/env python
import test.regrtest as rt
rt.main(tests = ['myDir.test_file1','myDir.test_file2'], \
quiet = False, verbose = True)
}}}

running sample.py yields:

{{{
#!sh
myDir.test_file1
myDir.test_file1 skipped -- No module named myDir.test_file1
myDir.test_file2
myDir.test_file2 skipped -- No module named myDir.test_file2
2 tests skipped:
    myDir.test_file1 myDir.test_file2
2 skips unexpected on win32:
    myDir.test_file1 myDir.test_file2
}}}

This is due to the code snippet in regrtest.py around line 554:

{{{
#!python
...
            if test.startswith('test.'):
                abstest = test
            else:
                # Always import it from the test package
                abstest = 'test.' + test
            the_package = __import__(abstest, globals(), locals(), [])
            the_module = getattr(the_package, test)
...
}}}

should be changed to:
{{{
#!python
...
            if test.startswith('test.'):
                abstest = test
                modName = test[len('test.'):]
            else:
                # Always import it from the test package
                abstest = 'test.' + test
                modName = test
            the_package = __import__(abstest, globals(), locals(), [])
            the_module = getattr(the_package, modName)
...
}}}

This way, the the_module will correctly find the module name in 
'the_package'.

A further recommendation: the main() module should be able to work with 
test directories with name other than 'test.*'.  Otherwise, users 
wishing to use the main() on other directories will have to name them 
'test.'  Depending on the user's directory's position in sys.path 
(before or after $pythondir/lib/python[ver]), regrtest.main() will 
either fail due to the 'from test import ...' statements being shadowed 
by the user's 'test' directory or the user's 'test' directory being 
shadowed by the standard library's.