If you look at https://docs.python.org/3.9/py-modindex.html#cap-i you will see that importlib.metadata isn't listed (same goes for the 3.8 docs).

Or are you leaving it out due to it being provisional?

Provisional status should not cause a module or other API element to be omitted from the indexes.  So long as it's marked provisional where it's described, it should be locatable.

There's an importlib.metadata.rst file which describes how to use the API, but that doesn't appear to be linked from either the main library ToC or the importlib documentation itself.  I'll see if I can put together a PR to fix this.

Including a module directive with synopsis as below in importlib.metadata.rst seems to fix this. It would also be good to include a link to source code from the importlib.metadata docs page since it's written in Python.

.. module:: importlib.metadata
   :synopsis: The implementation of the importlib metadata.

**Source code:** :source:`Lib/importlib/metadata/__init__.py`

@jaraco - Why is the code in `Lib/importlib/metadata/__init__.py` instead of `Lib/importlib/metadata.py`?  Is that to make it easier to port between CPython stdlib and the standalone version?

> Why is the code in `Lib/importlib/metadata/__init__.py`

Mainly because originally, the code was in multiple modules. I'm happy for it to move into a single file module.

If there's no porting benefit then let's move it to a single module instead of a package.

I’ll do a PR for that too.

> On Aug 6, 2019, at 14:07, Brett Cannon <report@bugs.python.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> Brett Cannon <brett@python.org> added the comment:
> 
> If there's no porting benefit then let's move it to a single module instead of a package.
> 
> ----------
> 
> _______________________________________
> Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org>
> <https://bugs.python.org/issue37741>
> _______________________________________

The docs at https://docs.python.org/3/library/importlib.metadata.html also don't list the API at all, it is just a tutorial, not a reference. I see the code has docstrings, but they are missing from the docs. E.g. PackageNotFoundError is not documented at all.

Are you still planning to fix this, Barry?

I'd still like to.  I'm also happy to review any PRs if someone beats me to it.

New changeset 23acadcc1c75eb74b2459304af70d97a35001b34 by Jason R. Coombs in branch 'master':
bpo-37741: make importlib.metadata docs discoverable through a module directive. (GH-25415)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/23acadcc1c75eb74b2459304af70d97a35001b34

@jaraco beat me to it.  PRs approved!

New changeset a746fceb7548e92f58037d9f90b5468bdc76889d by Miss Islington (bot) in branch '3.8':
bpo-37741: make importlib.metadata docs discoverable through a module directive. (GH-25415)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/a746fceb7548e92f58037d9f90b5468bdc76889d

New changeset ab1c3d99f51188d1a6b5f7797294b056279f62e0 by Miss Islington (bot) in branch '3.9':
bpo-37741: make importlib.metadata docs discoverable through a module directive. (GH-25415) (GH-25417)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/ab1c3d99f51188d1a6b5f7797294b056279f62e0

New changeset 17b916737bd05a11ec24341990c4d8dbfee8f94b by Jason R. Coombs in branch '3.9':
[3.9] bpo-37741: make importlib.metadata docs discoverable through a module directive. (GH-25415) (GH-26500)
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/17b916737bd05a11ec24341990c4d8dbfee8f94b