Why was it ever considered desirable to call a directory containing a __init__.py file a "package" rather then just "module". They are after all simply "modules containing other modules". It's not like that solved some sort of problem was it? But, as sad as that sometimes might be, we can't change the past.

Anyway, people are continiously confused when talking about python and all the module distributions made available on the cheeseshopPyPI by various projects. And now yet another discussion rages over at distutils-sig where they want to re-work this confusion by using unambigous terms. The only possible outcome I can think of is more confusion.

What is so hard about accepting the current status quo? The thing that would help most is documenting something like the following in distutils documentation:

The word "package" is often used to refer to a module distribution, usually it is perfectly clear form the context whether it is talking about a module distribution or a module containing other modules.