Optimize exception handling in import_module() (#2224)

Pass `use_cache` value to ast_from_module_name()

astroid/nodes/scoped_nodes/scoped_nodes.py

@@ -445,7 +445,11 @@ def import_module(
             # skip here
             if relative_only:
                 raise
-        return AstroidManager().ast_from_module_name(modname)
+            # Don't repeat the same operation, e.g. for missing modules
+            # like "_winapi" or "nt" on POSIX systems.
+            if modname == absmodname:
+                raise
+        return AstroidManager().ast_from_module_name(modname, use_cache=use_cache)
 
     def relative_to_absolute_name(self, modname: str, level: int | None) -> str:
         """Get the absolute module name for a relative import.

tests/test_scoped_nodes.py

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 import unittest
 from functools import partial
 from typing import Any
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
 import pytest
 
@@ -29,8 +30,9 @@
     util,
 )
 from astroid.bases import BoundMethod, Generator, Instance, UnboundMethod
-from astroid.const import IS_PYPY, PY38
+from astroid.const import IS_PYPY, PY38, WIN32
 from astroid.exceptions import (
+    AstroidBuildingError,
     AttributeInferenceError,
     DuplicateBasesError,
     InconsistentMroError,
@@ -244,6 +246,19 @@ def test_import_2(self) -> None:
         finally:
             del sys.path[0]
 
+    @patch(
+        "astroid.nodes.scoped_nodes.scoped_nodes.AstroidManager.ast_from_module_name"
+    )
+    def test_import_unavailable_module(self, mock) -> None:
+        unavailable_modname = "posixpath" if WIN32 else "ntpath"
+        module = builder.parse(f"import {unavailable_modname}")
+        mock.side_effect = AstroidBuildingError
+
+        with pytest.raises(AstroidBuildingError):
+            module.import_module(unavailable_modname)
+
+        mock.assert_called_once()
+
     def test_file_stream_in_memory(self) -> None:
         data = """irrelevant_variable is irrelevant"""
         astroid = builder.parse(data, "in_memory")