Python -- import the package in a module that is inside the same package

I have a project structure something like this... ``` /some_app build/ README out.py some_app/ __init__.py mod1.py mod2.py ``` Now I want to import `some_app` package into `mod2`, without messing with `sys.path` trickery. What I simply did is... ``` # mod2.py import some_app ``` Now when I run the mod2.py from the command line ``` some_app $ python mod2.py ``` it throws error `ImportError: No module named some_app` BUT, inside the `out.py` file, when I do ``` # out.py import some_app.mod2 ``` and then do ``` some_app $ python out.py ``` it runs perfectly. Hence, what is happening is this. I load a package in a module that is within the same package, and then run that module as the `__main__` file -- and it doesn't work. Next, I load the same module (the one that I ran as `__main__`) inside another module, and then run that another module as `__main__` -- and it works. Can someone please elaborate on what's going on here? UPDATE I understand that there is no straightforward reason for doing this -- because I could have directly imported any modules inside the `some_app` package. The reason I am trying this is because, in the Django project, this is what they're doing. See this file for example In every module, all the non-standard imports start with `django.`. So I wondered why and how they are doing that. UPDATE 2 Relevant links - How to do relative imports in Python? - Python: import the containing package