Notices

I get a traceback with the python you show above, but the system says that python2.5-gnome is installed. I've uninstalled and installed python2.5-runtime a number of times with no change in the behavior.

Does this file exist: /usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gtk-2.0/gnome/gconf.so ?

You could try removing just python2.5-gnome and reinstalling that:

The file /usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gtk-2.0/gnome/gconf.so exists. I've done an apt-get remove python2.5-gnome and apt-get install python2.5-gnome with no change in behavior. When I do apt-get purge python2.5-gnome it says "invalid operation purge" even though purge is listed in one of the commands in the help package.

That's really odd, could you please try the following and post the output:

here it is:
['', '/usr/lib/python25.zip', '/usr/lib/python2.5', '/usr/lib/python2.5/plat-linux2', '/usr/lib/python2.5/lib-dynload', '/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages', '/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/Numeric', '/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/PIL', '/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gst-0.10', '/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gtk-2.0', '/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/pyinotify']

That doesn't make sense, your path is correct, it should work :S

You know, you never posted the full traceback from when you try to do "from gnome import gconf". Please do so, there might be more info there.

One more thing you could try is this:

If I do the PYTHONPATH example above, the import seems to work fine.

Here is the full traceback (-v option) with the "from gnome import gconf":
# installing zipimport hook
import zipimport # builtin
# installed zipimport hook
# zipimport: found 289 names in /usr/lib/python25.zip
import site # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.5/site.pyo
import os # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.5/os.pyo
import errno # builtin
import posix # builtin
import posixpath # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.5/posixpath.pyo
import stat # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.5/stat.pyo
import UserDict # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.5/UserDict.pyo
import copy_reg # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.5/copy_reg.pyo
import types # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.5/types.pyo
import _types # builtin
import linecache # loaded from Zip /usr/lib/python25.zip/linecache.pyo
import warnings # loaded from Zip /usr/lib/python25.zip/warnings.pyo
import _codecs # builtin
import codecs # loaded from Zip /usr/lib/python25.zip/codecs.pyo
import encodings.aliases # loaded from Zip /usr/lib/python25.zip/encodings/aliases.pyo
import encodings # loaded from Zip /usr/lib/python25.zip/encodings/__init__.pyo
import encodings.utf_8 # loaded from Zip /usr/lib/python25.zip/encodings/utf_8.pyo
Python 2.5.2 (r252:60911, Sep 8 2008, 22:02:20)
[GCC 3.4.4 (release) (CodeSourcery ARM 2005q3-2)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
import gnome # directory /usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gnome
# /usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gnome/__init__.pyo matches /usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gnome/__init__.py
import gnome # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gnome/__init__.pyo
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
ImportError: cannot import name gconf
# clear __builtin__._
# clear sys.path
# clear sys.argv
# clear sys.ps1
# clear sys.ps2
# clear sys.exitfunc
# clear sys.exc_type
# clear sys.exc_value
# clear sys.exc_traceback
# clear sys.last_type
# clear sys.last_value
# clear sys.last_traceback
# clear sys.path_hooks
# clear sys.path_importer_cache
# clear sys.meta_path
# restore sys.stdin
# restore sys.stdout
# restore sys.stderr
# cleanup __main__
# cleanup[1] site
# cleanup[1] encodings
# cleanup[1] _codecs
# cleanup[1] zipimport
# cleanup[1] warnings
# cleanup[1] encodings.utf_8
# cleanup[1] codecs
# cleanup[1] types
# cleanup[1] _types
# cleanup[1] gnome
# cleanup[1] signal
# cleanup[1] linecache
# cleanup[1] posix
# cleanup[1] encodings.aliases
# cleanup[1] exceptions
# cleanup[2] copy_reg
# cleanup[2] posixpath
# cleanup[2] errno
# cleanup[2] os.path
# cleanup[2] stat
# cleanup[2] UserDict
# cleanup[2] os
# cleanup sys
# cleanup __builtin__
# cleanup ints: 1733 unfreed ints in 25 out of 25 blocks
# cleanup floats
~ $

I'm really not sure what's going on, I don't know where you got the __init__.py file from, I don't have one...

Perhaps you could try deleting it?

I have what you have in the gtk-2.0/gnome directory. The __init__.py file in the site-packages/gnome directory has no contents and is required according to the documentation of bugs for pymaemo. So I don't see anything wrong with what I have except that it doesn't work right.

You don't need the __init__.py file provided that you have a __init__.pyo file. (And yes, it's normal for that file to be empty)