A classmethod called importlib.abc.SourceLoader.source_to_code(source_bytes, path) would return a code object. By default it would be equivalent to compile(source_bytes, source_path, 'exec', dont_inherit=True), but others could override this to e.g. convert the source to an AST, optimize the AST, and then call compile() to get the desired code object.

Might name this compile_source() instead.

Though I haven't been able to get to this, I do have a demo of sorts that I've been using elsewhere:

https://bitbucket.org/ericsnowcurrently/pylt/src/default/pylt/_importing.py?at=default#cl-225

We might want an keyword-only 'optimize' argument that maps to the compile() function's 'optimize' argument.

New changeset e30bcce5c634 by Brett Cannon in branch 'default':
Issue bpo-15627: Add the compile_source() method to
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/e30bcce5c634

Sorry, just now digging out of a massive backlog here. The originally proposed name of "source_to_code()" might be more appropriate than compile_source(). The relationship to compilation is not compulsory and the name/docstring/docs might imply that. If you're not opposed, Brett, I can make the change.

Regardless, glad to see this in. :)

It might not be compulsory, but how else are you going to get a code object? Then again, get_code() kind of codifies the use of the word "code" for methods that return a code object.

So if you want to do the work to change the name then go ahead.

New changeset 7caab48f171e by Eric Snow in branch 'default':
Issue bpo-15627: This is simply an update to the name of a new method recently added
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/7caab48f171e

The first commit does something fishy with tests: http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/e30bcce5c634#l3.1

It cleans up the run_unittest() call. You can check the file and see that the "missing" classes are actually not in the module anymore.

Ah, okay. I can’t wait for the time when unittest.main() is used everywhere and we delete run_unittest :)