Index: lib/python/mod_python/publisher.py
===================================================================
--- lib/python/mod_python/publisher.py	(revision 240397)
+++ lib/python/mod_python/publisher.py	(working copy)
@@ -113,6 +113,7 @@
     if req.method not in ["GET", "POST", "HEAD"]:
         raise apache.SERVER_RETURN, apache.HTTP_METHOD_NOT_ALLOWED
 
+    """
     if exists(req.filename):
         
         # The file or directory exists, so we have a request of the form :
@@ -182,7 +183,96 @@
     # We remove the last dot if any
     if func_path[-1:] == ".":
         func_path = func_path[:-1] 
+    """
 
+
+    # Derive the name of the actual module which will be
+    # loaded. In older version of mod_python.publisher
+    # you can't actually have a code file name which has
+    # an embedded '.' in it except for that used by the
+    # extension. This is because the standard Python
+    # module import system which is used will think that
+    # you are importing a submodule of a package. In
+    # this code, because the standard Python module
+    # import system isn't used and the actual file is
+    # opened directly by name, an embedded '.' besides
+    # that used for the extension will technically work.
+
+    path,module_name =  os.path.split(req.filename)
+
+    # If the request is against a directory, fallback to
+    # looking for the 'index' module. This is determined
+    # by virtue of the fact that Apache will always add
+    # a trailing slash to 'req.filename' when it matches
+    # a directory. This will mean that the calculated
+    # module name will be empty.
+
+    if not module_name:  
+        module_name = 'index'
+
+    # Now need to strip off any special extension which
+    # was used to trigger this handler in the first place.
+
+    suffixes = ['py']
+    suffixes += req.get_addhandler_exts().split()
+    if req.extension:
+        suffixes.append(req.extension[1:])
+
+    exp = '\\.' + '$|\\.'.join(suffixes) + '$'
+    suff_matcher = re.compile(exp)
+    module_name = suff_matcher.sub('',module_name)
+
+    # Next need to determine the path for the function
+    # which will be called from 'req.path_info'. The
+    # leading slash and possibly any trailing slash are
+    # eliminated. There would normally be at most one
+    # trailing slash as Apache eliminates duplicates
+    # from the original URI.
+
+    func_path = ''
+
+    if req.path_info:
+        func_path = req.path_info[1:]
+        if func_path[-1:] == '/':
+            func_path = func_path[:-1]
+
+    # Now determine the actual Python module code file
+    # to load. This will first try looking for the file
+    # '/path/<module_name>.py'. If this doesn't exist,
+    # will try fallback of using the 'index' module,
+    # ie., look for '/path/index.py'. In doing this, the
+    # 'func_path' gets adjusted so the lead part is what
+    # 'module_name' was set to.
+
+    req.filename = path + '/' + module_name + '.py'
+
+    if not exists(req.filename):
+        if func_path:
+            func_path = module_name + '/' + func_path
+        else:
+            func_path = module_name
+
+        module_name = 'index' 
+        req.filename = path + '/' + module_name + '.py'
+
+        if not exists(req.filename):
+            raise apache.SERVER_RETURN, apache.HTTP_NOT_FOUND
+
+    # Default to looking for the 'index' function if no
+    # function path definition was supplied.
+
+    if not func_path:
+        func_path = 'index'
+
+    # Turn slashes into dots.
+
+    func_path = func_path.replace('/', '.')
+
+    # Normalise req.filename to avoid Win32 issues.
+
+    req.filename = normpath(req.filename)
+
+
     # We use the page cache to load the module
     module = page_cache[req]