i just think a workig directory might not be to bad. This not only affects the python imports, but also the panda3d path, where ‘.’ (the working/current directory) is usually in the config file.
to be sure we mean the same, i have put together a example which shows the structure:
http://www.nouser.org/~rspoerri/example.zip
if you dont want to do it, im fine 
It’s already great that you make this ide available.