diff --git a/bindings/python/ctypes_gphoto2.py b/bindings/python/ctypes_gphoto2.py
index 893417a39..e8c7bec40 100644
--- a/bindings/python/ctypes_gphoto2.py
+++ b/bindings/python/ctypes_gphoto2.py
@@ -21,15 +21,38 @@
 
 ########################################################################
 
-import ctypes
-import ctypes.util
+import ctypes as __ctypes
+
+
+########################################################################
+# Note on exported python symbols:
+#   As long as we can make all non-exported symbols in this module start
+#   with "__" (even the imported modules!), we can keep the exported
+#   namespace clean even without maintaining __all__ explicityl.
+#
+# __all__ contains all python symbols to be automatically imported from
+# this module via
+#
+#    from this_module import *
+#
+# You may append more symbols later in this file.
+#
+# An automatic test case may compare this __all__ to the
+# libgphoto2.sym and libgphoto2_port.sym files.
+#__all__ = [
+#    "gp_library_version",
+#    "gp_port_library_version",
+#    "GPVersionVerbosity",
+#    "GP_VERSION_SHORT",
+#    "GP_VERSION_VERBOSE",
+#    ]
 
 
 ########################################################################
 
 def __char_p_p_to_string_list(value):
     """Turn char** into ["foo", "bar", "bla"]"""
-    array_of_c_char_p = ctypes.c_char_p * 200 # FIXME: OUCH!
+    array_of_c_char_p = __ctypes.c_char_p * 200 # FIXME: OUCH!
     blubb = array_of_c_char_p.from_address(value)
     retval = []
     for x in blubb:
@@ -37,37 +60,20 @@ def __char_p_p_to_string_list(value):
             break
         retval.append(x)
     return retval
-        
-
-########################################################################
-
-__gpp = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary("libgphoto2_port.so")
-assert(__gpp)
-__gp = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary("libgphoto2.so")
-assert(__gp)
 
 
 ########################################################################
 
-# __all__ contains all python symbols to be exported.
-#
-# You may append more symbols later in this file.
-#
-# An automatic test case may compare this __all__ to the
-# libgphoto2.sym and libgphoto2_port.sym files.
-__all__ = [
-    "gp_library_version",
-    "gp_port_library_version",
-    "GPVersionVerbosity",
-    "GP_VERSION_SHORT",
-    "GP_VERSION_VERBOSE",
-    ]
+__gpp = __ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary("libgphoto2_port.so")
+assert __gpp, "Error loading libgphoto2_port"
+__gp = __ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary("libgphoto2.so")
+assert __gp, "Error loading libgphoto2"
 
 
 ########################################################################
 
-# enum GPVersionVerbosity { GP_VERSION_SHORT, GP_VERSION_VERBOSE }
-class GPVersionVerbosity(ctypes.c_int):
+# typedef enum { GP_VERSION_SHORT, GP_VERSION_VERBOSE } GPVersionVerbosity;
+class GPVersionVerbosity(__ctypes.c_int):
     pass
 GP_VERSION_SHORT = GPVersionVerbosity(0)
 GP_VERSION_VERBOSE = GPVersionVerbosity(1)
@@ -79,7 +85,7 @@ gp_library_version.restype = __char_p_p_to_string_list
         
 # char **gp_port_library_version(GPVersionVerbosity verbose);
 gp_port_library_version = __gpp.gp_port_library_version
-gp_port_library_version.argtypes = ( ctypes.c_int, )
+gp_port_library_version.argtypes = ( GPVersionVerbosity, )
 gp_port_library_version.restype = __char_p_p_to_string_list
 
 
diff --git a/bindings/python/test_ctypes_gphoto2.py b/bindings/python/test_ctypes_gphoto2.py
index 8b76a160b..049446435 100755
--- a/bindings/python/test_ctypes_gphoto2.py
+++ b/bindings/python/test_ctypes_gphoto2.py
@@ -20,15 +20,24 @@
 
 import sys
 
+symbols_before = dir()
+from ctypes_gphoto2 import *
+symbols_after = dir()
+
 
 ########################################################################
 
-from ctypes_gphoto2 import *
+import pprint
 
 
 ########################################################################
 
 def main(args, progname=None):
+    for x in symbols_before + ["symbols_before"]:
+        symbols_after.remove(x)
+    symbols_after.sort()
+    pprint.pprint(symbols_after)
+
     for f in [
         gp_library_version(GP_VERSION_SHORT),
         gp_port_library_version(GP_VERSION_SHORT),