Issue #6816: expose the zipfile and directory execution mechanism to Python code via the runpy module. Also consolidated some script execution functionality in the test harness into a helper module and removed some implementation details from the runpy module documentation.
diff --git a/Lib/test/script_helper.py b/Lib/test/script_helper.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af5252c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Lib/test/script_helper.py
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+# Common utility functions used by various script execution tests
+#  e.g. test_cmd_line, test_cmd_line_script and test_runpy
+
+import sys
+import os
+import os.path
+import tempfile
+import subprocess
+import py_compile
+import contextlib
+import shutil
+import zipfile
+
+# Executing the interpreter in a subprocess
+def python_exit_code(*args):
+    cmd_line = [sys.executable, '-E']
+    cmd_line.extend(args)
+    with open(os.devnull, 'w') as devnull:
+        return subprocess.call(cmd_line, stdout=devnull,
+                                stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
+
+def spawn_python(*args):
+    cmd_line = [sys.executable, '-E']
+    cmd_line.extend(args)
+    return subprocess.Popen(cmd_line, stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
+                            stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
+
+def kill_python(p):
+    p.stdin.close()
+    data = p.stdout.read()
+    p.stdout.close()
+    # try to cleanup the child so we don't appear to leak when running
+    # with regrtest -R.  This should be a no-op on Windows.
+    subprocess._cleanup()
+    return data
+
+def run_python(*args):
+    if __debug__:
+        p = spawn_python(*args)
+    else:
+        p = spawn_python('-O', *args)
+    stdout_data = kill_python(p)
+    return p.wait(), stdout_data
+
+# Script creation utilities
+@contextlib.contextmanager
+def temp_dir():
+    dirname = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+    dirname = os.path.realpath(dirname)
+    try:
+        yield dirname
+    finally:
+        shutil.rmtree(dirname)
+
+def make_script(script_dir, script_basename, source):
+    script_filename = script_basename+os.extsep+'py'
+    script_name = os.path.join(script_dir, script_filename)
+    script_file = open(script_name, 'w')
+    script_file.write(source)
+    script_file.close()
+    return script_name
+
+def compile_script(script_name):
+    py_compile.compile(script_name, doraise=True)
+    if __debug__:
+        compiled_name = script_name + 'c'
+    else:
+        compiled_name = script_name + 'o'
+    return compiled_name
+
+def make_zip_script(zip_dir, zip_basename, script_name, name_in_zip=None):
+    zip_filename = zip_basename+os.extsep+'zip'
+    zip_name = os.path.join(zip_dir, zip_filename)
+    zip_file = zipfile.ZipFile(zip_name, 'w')
+    if name_in_zip is None:
+        name_in_zip = os.path.basename(script_name)
+    zip_file.write(script_name, name_in_zip)
+    zip_file.close()
+    #if test.test_support.verbose:
+    #    zip_file = zipfile.ZipFile(zip_name, 'r')
+    #    print 'Contents of %r:' % zip_name
+    #    zip_file.printdir()
+    #    zip_file.close()
+    return zip_name, os.path.join(zip_name, name_in_zip)
+
+def make_pkg(pkg_dir):
+    os.mkdir(pkg_dir)
+    make_script(pkg_dir, '__init__', '')
+
+def make_zip_pkg(zip_dir, zip_basename, pkg_name, script_basename,
+                 source, depth=1, compiled=False):
+    unlink = []
+    init_name = make_script(zip_dir, '__init__', '')
+    unlink.append(init_name)
+    init_basename = os.path.basename(init_name)
+    script_name = make_script(zip_dir, script_basename, source)
+    unlink.append(script_name)
+    if compiled:
+        init_name = compile_script(init_name)
+        script_name = compile_script(script_name)
+        unlink.extend((init_name, script_name))
+    pkg_names = [os.sep.join([pkg_name]*i) for i in range(1, depth+1)]
+    script_name_in_zip = os.path.join(pkg_names[-1], os.path.basename(script_name))
+    zip_filename = zip_basename+os.extsep+'zip'
+    zip_name = os.path.join(zip_dir, zip_filename)
+    zip_file = zipfile.ZipFile(zip_name, 'w')
+    for name in pkg_names:
+        init_name_in_zip = os.path.join(name, init_basename)
+        zip_file.write(init_name, init_name_in_zip)
+    zip_file.write(script_name, script_name_in_zip)
+    zip_file.close()
+    for name in unlink:
+        os.unlink(name)
+    #if test.test_support.verbose:
+    #    zip_file = zipfile.ZipFile(zip_name, 'r')
+    #    print 'Contents of %r:' % zip_name
+    #    zip_file.printdir()
+    #    zip_file.close()
+    return zip_name, os.path.join(zip_name, script_name_in_zip)