Theversion() function of theimportlib.metadata package returns an arbitrary version number when called withNone. There's no documentation on what the return value means.

I would have expected one of the following instead:

• raise an error saying that thedistribution_name parameter cannot beNone, or
• explain what the return value means in therelevant documentation.

The current behaviour is confusing as one could think, for example, that the return value is the version of the project/package they call it from.

>>> import sys>>> print(sys.version)3.10.0 (tags/v3.10.0:b494f59, Oct  4 2021, 19:00:18) [MSC v.1929 64 bit (AMD64)]>>> import importlib.metadata>>> importlib.metadata.version(None)'21.2.3'

I looks like the return value is the version of an arbitrary package installed in the Python virtual environment. Calling the function repeatedly seems to give the same value, but installing a new package can cause the return value to change.

System information

• CPython versions tested on: 3.10.0
• Operating system and architecture: Windows 10 Enterprise (64-bit operating system, x64-based processor)