Python load time is ridiculous

[ezyang]

If you strace say a Trac FastCGI, you will see Python stat a bazillion files before actually doing anything. This means 1+ second startup times for FastCGIs, and is exacerbated by our more aggressive FastCGI killing.

[ezyang]

See:

​http://artificialcode.blogspot.com/2009/04/short-circuiting-python-module-lookup.html

geofft suggests demandimport may be useful.

We think this is exacerbated by the high number of Python packages we've installed (both via RPM and easy_install)

[ezyang]

User which appears to be affected by this issue: ​https://help.mit.edu/Ticket/CallCenter.html?id=1793306

[adehnert]

Anders pointed out on zephyr: "Hmm, is this better in Python 3.3? They appear to have flipped out and rewritten the import system using modern buzzword-compliant technology such as a “cache”. ​http://docs.python.org/py3k/whatsnew/3.3.html#importlib ". Interested bugfixers may wish to test with Python 3.3.