Sub folders and pdoc without __init__.py files

[ferreteleco]

Problem Description

Hi all! I've just discovered this awesome package and was giving it a try when I found something that doesn't fit (for me at least): I'm working on a project with many sub-folders inside without using init.py other than in the top level one. When I trigger pdoc, none of the sub-modules get documented. Including empty init.py files in each sub folder solves the problem, but I found it quite odd (since python does not need that in order to work properly).

Thanks in advance!

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Project with many sub-folders without init.py files
2. Triggering pdoc does not generate documentation for files un those folders
3. Including init.py files in each sub folder solves the problem

System Information

pdoc: 12.0.2
Python: 3.10.2
Platform: Linux-5.13.0-48-generic-x86_64-with-glibc2.31

[mhils]

The Python documentation states that __init__.py files are required:

The __init__.py files are required to make Python treat directories containing the file as packages.

A package directory without __init__.py is a PEP 420 "namespace package", not a regular package. See also https://dev.to/methane/don-t-omit-init-py-3hga, which is written by one of the CPython core developers.

I agree it's all a bit confusing, but for pdoc it boils down to the fact that pkgutil.walk_packages - which we use to discover packages - does not pick up namespace packages. See also: python/cpython#73444

Long story short, there's not much we can do here. I'd really recommend to add __init__.py files. As a workaround, you could maybe list all the sub-packages explicitly. Hope this helps!