[TriLUG] OT: beginner python question, what does "import" do

[Joseph Mack NA3T]

I don't know anything about python, but preliminary googling
in Python tutorials hasn't found the answer.

I have a python program which has

import dbus
import gtk

and which runs without errors (so I assume it has found
dbus and gtk). The program install notes say to
make sure dbus.py is in PYTHONPATH (set to 
"/usr/lib/python2.4;/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages").

>From this instruction I would assume that the
"import dbus" call includes the file dbus.py.

However there is no dbus.py/pyc or gtk.py/pyc on the machine.
There is a _dbus.py and pygtk.py in $PYTHONPATH.
_dbus.py itself imports dbus, so can't be exporting it.
pygtk.py doesn't seem to export a label "gtk".

Where is the program importing dbus and gtk from?

Thanks Joe

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Joseph Mack NA3T EME(B,D), FM05lw North Carolina
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