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Date: Tue, 09 Aug 2011 09:34:23 -0700
From: Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us>
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Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.python:11073

Greetings!

Does anyone know/recall the original purpose of __all__?

I had thought it was primarily to specify what would be imported when 
`from ... import *` was executed, such as for tk;  today, it seems it is 
also used to specify the API for the module, and so the help() subsystem 
will only provide details for those items found in __all__.

The issue I'm having with this is that there are roughly a dozen items I 
would like to make available via the `import *` mechanism in my dbf 
module, and another dozen that, while part of the public API, don't need 
to be available via an `import *`.

History lessons, as well as ideas, welcomed!

~Ethan~