saltstack, dunders and /srv/salt/_utils

thing.py

# /srv/salt/_modules/thing.py

import sys as _sys


def __virtual__():
    return "thing"


def has_thing():
    return True if __salt__['sys.list_modules']('thing') else False


def run():
    return __utils__['thing.test']()


def thing_namespace():
    __utils__['thing.test']()

    THING = _sys.modules['salt.loaded.ext.utils.thing']
    return dir(THING)

Uthing.py

# /srv/salt/_utils/thing.py

import sys as _sys
from salt.loader import utils as _utils

_anchor = _sys.modules[__name__]


def __virtual__():
    setattr(_anchor, '__utilS__', _utils(__opts__, context=__context__))
    return "thing"


def test():
    return True if getattr(_anchor, '__utilS__', None) else False