Issue 31802: 'import posixpath' fails if 'os.path' has not be imported already.
$ python3.7 -S >>> import posixpath Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> File "--/Lib/posixpath.py", line 13, in <module> import os File "--/Lib/os.py", line 92, in <module> from os.path import (curdir, pardir, sep, pathsep, defpath, extsep, altsep, ImportError: cannot import name 'curdir' from 'posixpath' (--/Lib/posixpath.py) Whether this counts as a bug or not is debatable. It could be argued that you shouldn't be importing 'posixpath' directly, in which case it ought to be called '_posixpath', but I guess it is too late to be changing the name.