"...whose name has the form package.pth" http://www.python.org/doc/lib/module-site.html 

as far as I can tell, that is incorrect.  the .pth file can be named anything - only the name of the dir listed in it is used as a package/module name.

It is implemented in site.py : 

def addpackage(sitedir, name, known_paths):

    fullname = os.path.join(sitedir, name)

        f = open(fullname, "rU")

        for line in f:

            dir, dircase = makepath(sitedir, line)
            if not dircase in known_paths and os.path.exists(dir):
                sys.path.append(dir)


Notice name is not added to sys.path.

I fail to see the problem. "package" is deliberately type-set in italics to indicate that the name of the pth is a placeholder. Nowhere it says that it must be the string "package", or a specific string.

Tentatively closing as won't fix.

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