[Python] Import local function from a module housed in another directory with relative imports...

I have a directory structure similar to the following

meta_project
project1
__init__.py
lib
module.py
__init__.py
notebook_folder
notebook.jpynb


When working in notebook.jpynb if I try to use a relative import to access a function function() in module.py with:

from ..project1.lib.module import function


I get the following error:

SystemError Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-7-6393744d93ab> in <module>()
----> 1 from ..project1.lib.module import function

SystemError: Parent module '' not loaded, cannot perform relative import


Is there any way to get this to work using relative imports?

Note, the notebook server is instantiated at the level of the meta_project directory, so it should have access to the information in those files.

Note, also, that at least as originally intended project1 wasn't thought of as a module and therefore does not have an __init__.py file, it was just meant as a file-system directory. If the solution to the problem requires treating it as a module and including an __init__.py file (even a blank one) that is fine, but doing so is not enough to solve the problem.

I share this directory between machines and relative imports allow me to use the same code everywhere, & I often use notebooks for quick prototyping, so suggestions that involve hacking together absolute paths are unlikely to be helpful.


Edit: This is unlike Relative imports in Python 3, which talks about relative imports in Python 3 in general and – in particular – running a script from within a package directory. This has to do with working within a jupyter notebook trying to call a function in a local module in another directory which has both different general and particular aspects.

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