title: Absolute imports in python not working, relative imports work
body: <p>I can't seem to get absolute imports to work in python. Here is my file structure:</p>
  
  <pre><code>a/
    b/
      __init__.py
    __init__.py
    foo.py
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>foo.py:</p>
  
  <pre><code># Including or removing the __future__ import has no effect
  from __future__ import absolute_import
  from a import b  # just `import b` works fine
  print "success!"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I instead get:</p>
  
  <pre><code>ImportError: No module named a
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What in the world is going on here? I feel like I'm missing something basic. While this example is trivial, I need absolute imports to work for the real project, so just replacing the import with a relative one is not an option. I'm using python 2.7.13</p>
  
  <p>None of the solutions listed <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39068391/absolute-import-not-working-but-relative-import-does">here</a> help</p>
  
  <p>Thanks in advance for any insight!</p>