Integers to octet strings (I2OSP)

[Tim Churches]

What is the most efficient method in Python for converting positive
integers (including long integers) to octet strings, as per the common
cryptographic data conversion conversion I2OSP (formal definition can be
found here: http://rfc.net/rfc2437.html#p6 )? I thought of converting
the integer to hex with hex() and then converting pairs of the resulting
hex characters into bytes using int() and then chr(), but this seems a
bit clunky. Googling for 30 minutes didn't turn up any example code in
Python (or much else).
-- 

Tim C

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