Thank you Chris and Peter. The source file we're generating has one main function (go) with some supporting functions and classes as well. Will there be any problems referencing additional functions or classes defined in the source that gets passed to exec ... as long as references to those functions and classes happen within the generated module?
I assume that one downside to the exec() approach is that there is no persistent namespace for this code's functions and classes, eg. after the exec() completes, its namespace disappears and is not available to code that follows? The Python documentation also warns: "Be aware that the return and yield statements may not be used outside of function definitions even within the context of code passed to the exec() function. The return value is None." Malcolm -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list