title: Why is the import of `*.so` files from ZIP files disallowed in Python?
body: <p>Why is the import of *.so files from ZIP files disallowed in Python?</p>
  
  <p>The documentation (<a href="https://docs.python.org/2/library/zipimport.html" rel="noreferrer">https://docs.python.org/2/library/zipimport.html</a>) is very clear:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Any files may be present in the ZIP archive, but only files .py and .py[co] are available for import. ZIP import of dynamic modules (.pyd, .so) is disallowed.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>But the documentation doesn't name any reason for this strange limitation. Is is because importing from ZIP files is generally discouraged in Python? Or is it because of security reasons? If so, which ones? Is the any official statement about this?</p>