Put a module object in sys.modules before executing module code (#23269)

The loading protocol mandates that the the module we are going
to import needs to be already in sys.modules before its code is
executed, so to prevent unbounded recursions and multiple loading.

Loading a module from file exits early if the module is already
in sys.modules

lib/spack/llnl/util/lang.py

@@ -804,6 +804,9 @@ def __repr__(self):
 def load_module_from_file(module_name, module_path):
     """Loads a python module from the path of the corresponding file.
 
+    If the module is already in ``sys.modules`` it will be returned as
+    is and not reloaded.
+
     Args:
         module_name (str): namespace where the python module will be loaded,
             e.g. ``foo.bar``
@@ -816,12 +819,28 @@ def load_module_from_file(module_name, module_path):
         ImportError: when the module can't be loaded
         FileNotFoundError: when module_path doesn't exist
     """
+    if module_name in sys.modules:
+        return sys.modules[module_name]
+
+    # This recipe is adapted from https://stackoverflow.com/a/67692/771663
     if sys.version_info[0] == 3 and sys.version_info[1] >= 5:
         import importlib.util
         spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location(  # novm
             module_name, module_path)
         module = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)  # novm
-        spec.loader.exec_module(module)
+        # The module object needs to exist in sys.modules before the
+        # loader executes the module code.
+        #
+        # See https://docs.python.org/3/reference/import.html#loading
+        sys.modules[spec.name] = module
+        try:
+            spec.loader.exec_module(module)
+        except BaseException:
+            try:
+                del sys.modules[spec.name]
+            except KeyError:
+                pass
+            raise
     elif sys.version_info[0] == 3 and sys.version_info[1] < 5:
         import importlib.machinery
         loader = importlib.machinery.SourceFileLoader(  # novm

lib/spack/spack/test/llnl/util/lang.py

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import pytest
 
 import os.path
+import sys
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 
 import llnl.util.lang
@@ -27,7 +28,12 @@ def module_path(tmpdir):
 path = os.path.join('/usr', 'bin')
 """
     m.write(content)
-    return str(m)
+
+    yield str(m)
+
+    # Don't leave garbage in the module system
+    if 'foo' in sys.modules:
+        del sys.modules['foo']
 
 
 def test_pretty_date():
@@ -127,10 +133,22 @@ def test_match_predicate():
 
 
 def test_load_modules_from_file(module_path):
+    # Check prerequisites
+    assert 'foo' not in sys.modules
+
+    # Check that the module is loaded correctly from file
     foo = llnl.util.lang.load_module_from_file('foo', module_path)
+    assert 'foo' in sys.modules
     assert foo.value == 1
     assert foo.path == os.path.join('/usr', 'bin')
 
+    # Check that the module is not reloaded a second time on subsequent calls
+    foo.value = 2
+    foo = llnl.util.lang.load_module_from_file('foo', module_path)
+    assert 'foo' in sys.modules
+    assert foo.value == 2
+    assert foo.path == os.path.join('/usr', 'bin')
+
 
 def test_uniq():
     assert [1, 2, 3] == llnl.util.lang.uniq([1, 2, 3])