--- a/Python/import.c	Fri Jul 28 19:42:40 2006 +0000
+++ b/Python/import.c	Fri Jul 28 21:12:07 2006 +0000
@@ -98,6 +98,8 @@
 };
 #endif
 
+static PyTypeObject NullImporterType;	/* Forward reference */
+
 /* Initialize things */
 
 void
@@ -155,6 +157,8 @@
 
 	/* adding sys.path_hooks and sys.path_importer_cache, setting up
 	   zipimport */
+	if (PyType_Ready(&NullImporterType) < 0)
+		goto error;
 
 	if (Py_VerboseFlag)
 		PySys_WriteStderr("# installing zipimport hook\n");
@@ -180,9 +184,11 @@
 	if (err) {
   error:
 		PyErr_Print();
-		Py_FatalError("initializing sys.meta_path, sys.path_hooks or "
-			      "path_importer_cache failed");
+		Py_FatalError("initializing sys.meta_path, sys.path_hooks, "
+			      "path_importer_cache, or NullImporter failed"
+			      );
 	}
+
 	zimpimport = PyImport_ImportModule("zipimport");
 	if (zimpimport == NULL) {
 		PyErr_Clear(); /* No zip import module -- okay */
@@ -1058,9 +1064,18 @@
 		}
 		PyErr_Clear();
 	}
-	if (importer == NULL)
-		importer = Py_None;
-	else if (importer != Py_None) {
+	if (importer == NULL) {
+		importer = PyObject_CallFunctionObjArgs(
+			(PyObject *)&NullImporterType, p, NULL
+		);
+		if (importer == NULL) {
+			if (PyErr_ExceptionMatches(PyExc_ImportError)) {
+				PyErr_Clear();
+				return Py_None;
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	if (importer != NULL) {
 		int err = PyDict_SetItem(path_importer_cache, p, importer);
 		Py_DECREF(importer);
 		if (err != 0)
@@ -1248,35 +1263,7 @@
 				return NULL;
 			}
 			/* Note: importer is a borrowed reference */
-			if (importer == Py_False) {
-				/* Cached as not being a valid dir. */
-				Py_XDECREF(copy);
-				continue;
-			}
-			else if (importer == Py_True) {
-				/* Cached as being a valid dir, so just
-				 * continue below. */
-			}
-			else if (importer == Py_None) {
-				/* No importer was found, so it has to be a file.
-				 * Check if the directory is valid.
-				 * Note that the empty string is a valid path, but
-				 * not stat'able, hence the check for len. */
-#ifdef HAVE_STAT
-				if (len && stat(buf, &statbuf) != 0) {
-					/* Directory does not exist. */
-					PyDict_SetItem(path_importer_cache,
-					               v, Py_False);
-					Py_XDECREF(copy);
-					continue;
-				} else {
-					PyDict_SetItem(path_importer_cache,
-					               v, Py_True);
-				}
-#endif
-			}
-			else {
-				/* A real import hook importer was found. */
+			if (importer != Py_None) {
 				PyObject *loader;
 				loader = PyObject_CallMethod(importer,
 							     "find_module",
@@ -2935,11 +2922,120 @@
 	return err;
 }
 
+typedef struct {
+    PyObject_HEAD
+} NullImporter;
+
+static int
+NullImporter_init(NullImporter *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
+{
+	char *path;
+
+	if (!_PyArg_NoKeywords("NullImporter()", kwds))
+		return -1;
+
+	if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "s:NullImporter",
+			      &path))
+		return -1;
+
+	if (strlen(path) == 0) {
+		PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ImportError, "empty pathname");
+		return -1;
+	} else {
+#ifndef RISCOS
+		struct stat statbuf;
+		int rv;
+
+		rv = stat(path, &statbuf);
+		if (rv == 0) {
+			/* it exists */
+			if (S_ISDIR(statbuf.st_mode)) {
+				/* it's a directory */
+				PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ImportError,
+						"existing directory");
+				return -1;
+			}
+		}
+#else
+		if (object_exists(path)) {
+			/* it exists */
+			if (isdir(path)) {
+				/* it's a directory */
+				PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ImportError,
+						"existing directory");
+				return -1;
+			}
+		}
+#endif
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static PyObject *
+NullImporter_find_module(NullImporter *self, PyObject *args)
+{
+	Py_RETURN_NONE;
+}
+
+static PyMethodDef NullImporter_methods[] = {
+	{"find_module", (PyCFunction)NullImporter_find_module, METH_VARARGS,
+	 "Always return None"
+	},
+	{NULL}  /* Sentinel */
+};
+
+
+static PyTypeObject NullImporterType = {
+	PyObject_HEAD_INIT(NULL)
+	0,                         /*ob_size*/
+	"imp.NullImporter",        /*tp_name*/
+	sizeof(NullImporter),      /*tp_basicsize*/
+	0,                         /*tp_itemsize*/
+	0,                         /*tp_dealloc*/
+	0,                         /*tp_print*/
+	0,                         /*tp_getattr*/
+	0,                         /*tp_setattr*/
+	0,                         /*tp_compare*/
+	0,                         /*tp_repr*/
+	0,                         /*tp_as_number*/
+	0,                         /*tp_as_sequence*/
+	0,                         /*tp_as_mapping*/
+	0,                         /*tp_hash */
+	0,                         /*tp_call*/
+	0,                         /*tp_str*/
+	0,                         /*tp_getattro*/
+	0,                         /*tp_setattro*/
+	0,                         /*tp_as_buffer*/
+	Py_TPFLAGS_DEFAULT,        /*tp_flags*/
+	"Null importer object",    /* tp_doc */
+	0,	                   /* tp_traverse */
+	0,	                   /* tp_clear */
+	0,	                   /* tp_richcompare */
+	0,	                   /* tp_weaklistoffset */
+	0,	                   /* tp_iter */
+	0,	                   /* tp_iternext */
+	NullImporter_methods,      /* tp_methods */
+	0,                         /* tp_members */
+	0,                         /* tp_getset */
+	0,                         /* tp_base */
+	0,                         /* tp_dict */
+	0,                         /* tp_descr_get */
+	0,                         /* tp_descr_set */
+	0,                         /* tp_dictoffset */
+	(initproc)NullImporter_init,      /* tp_init */
+	0,                         /* tp_alloc */
+	PyType_GenericNew          /* tp_new */
+};
+
+
 PyMODINIT_FUNC
 initimp(void)
 {
 	PyObject *m, *d;
 
+	if (PyType_Ready(&NullImporterType) < 0)
+		goto failure;
+
 	m = Py_InitModule4("imp", imp_methods, doc_imp,
 			   NULL, PYTHON_API_VERSION);
 	if (m == NULL)
@@ -2957,6 +3053,8 @@
 	if (setint(d, "PY_CODERESOURCE", PY_CODERESOURCE) < 0) goto failure;
 	if (setint(d, "IMP_HOOK", IMP_HOOK) < 0) goto failure;
 
+	Py_INCREF(&NullImporterType);
+	PyModule_AddObject(m, "NullImporter", (PyObject *)&NullImporterType);
   failure:
 	;
 }