3 files changed, 16 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 5066402..25a9885 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@
   isn't called, and that may not be obvious, so a hook won't be
   exposed for now.
 
+- When using an unexistent import path for Mocker.proxy(), raise an
+  ImportError on the base module, rather than using the actual
+  string as the object (#162315).
+
 
 0.8 (2007-11-11)
 ================
diff --git a/mocker.py b/mocker.py
index cb34664..71d3ac7 100644
--- a/mocker.py
+++ b/mocker.py
@@ -428,7 +428,10 @@ class MockerBase(object):
         is True), or explicitly (using the L{passthrough()} method
         on the event).
 
-        @param object: Real object to be proxied.
+        @param object: Real object to be proxied, and replaced by the mock
+                       on replay mode.  It may also be an "import path",
+                       such as C{"time.time"}, in which case the object
+                       will be the C{time} function from the C{time} module.
         @param spec: Method calls will be checked for correctness against
                      the given object, which may be a class or an instance
                      where attributes will be looked up.  Defaults to the
@@ -459,6 +462,8 @@ class MockerBase(object):
                     object = __import__(module_path, {}, {}, [""])
                 except ImportError:
                     attr_stack.insert(0, import_stack.pop())
+                    if not import_stack:
+                        raise
                     continue
                 else:
                     for attr in attr_stack:
@@ -481,7 +486,9 @@ class MockerBase(object):
         namespaces, class namespaces, instance namespaces, and so on.
 
         @param object: Real object to be proxied, and replaced by the mock
-                       on replay mode.
+                       on replay mode.  It may also be an "import path",
+                       such as C{"time.time"}, in which case the object
+                       will be the C{time} function from the C{time} module.
         @param spec: Method calls will be checked for correctness against
                      the given object, which may be a class or an instance
                      where attributes will be looked up.  Defaults to the
diff --git a/test.py b/test.py
index 236aa0c..ecbb74d 100755
--- a/test.py
+++ b/test.py
@@ -875,6 +875,9 @@ class MockerTest(unittest.TestCase):
         module = self.mocker.proxy("os.path", name="mock")
         self.assertEquals(module.__mocker_name__, "mock")
 
+    def test_proxy_with_unexistent_module(self):
+        self.assertRaises(ImportError, self.mocker.proxy, "unexistent.module")
+
     def test_replace(self):
         from os import path
         obj = object()