Issue #19963: Document that importlib.import_module() will import

parent packages automatically.

Doc/library/importlib.rst

@@ -82,10 +82,13 @@ Functions
     derived from :func:`importlib.__import__`, including requiring the package
     from which an import is occurring to have been previously imported
     (i.e., *package* must already be imported). The most important difference
-    is that :func:`import_module` returns the most nested package or module
-    that was imported (e.g. ``pkg.mod``), while :func:`__import__` returns the
+    is that :func:`import_module` returns the specified package or module
+    (e.g. ``pkg.mod``), while :func:`__import__` returns the
     top-level package or module (e.g. ``pkg``).
 
+    .. versionchanged:: 3.3
+       Parent packages are automatically imported.
+
 .. function:: find_loader(name, path=None)
 
    Find the loader for a module, optionally within the specified *path*. If the

Misc/NEWS

@@ -169,6 +169,9 @@ Tests
 Documentation
 -------------
 
+- Issue #19963: Document that importlib.import_module() no longer requires
+  importing parent packages separately.
+
 - Issue #18840: Introduce the json module in the tutorial, and deemphasize
   the pickle module.