[Python-Dev] Bytes path support

[Benjamin Peterson]

On Tue, Aug 19, 2014, at 10:43, Ben Hoyt wrote:
> >> > The official policy is that we want them [support for bytes paths in stdlib functions] to go away, but reality so far has not budged. We will continue to hold our breath though. :-)
> >>
> >> Does that mean that new APIs should explicitly not support bytes? I'm
> >> thinking of os.scandir() (PEP 471), which I'm implementing at the
> >> moment. I was originally going to make it support bytes so it was
> >> compatible with listdir, but maybe that's a bad idea. Bytes paths are
> >> essentially broken on Windows.
> >
> > Bytes paths are "essential" on Unix, though, so I don't think we should
> > create new low-level APIs that don't support bytes.
> 
> Fair enough. I don't quite understand, though -- why is the "official
> policy" to kill something that's "essential" on *nix?

Well, notice the official policy is desperately *wanting* them to go
away with the implication that we grudgingly bow to reality. :)