ConfigParser.read silently fails if filenames argument is a byte string

[vxgmichel]

BPO	31307
Nosy	@ambv, @berkerpeksag, @vxgmichel, @DavidCEllis, @cryvate
PRs	bpo-31307: Allow use of bytes object as a single argument in ConfigParser.read #3420

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2017-11-02.12:49:05.393>
created_at = <Date 2017-08-30.14:15:47.010>
labels = ['3.7', 'type-feature', 'library']
title = 'ConfigParser.read silently fails if filenames argument is a byte string'
updated_at = <Date 2017-11-02.12:49:05.391>
user = 'https://github.com/vxgmichel'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2017-11-02.12:49:05.391>
actor = 'berker.peksag'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2017-11-02.12:49:05.393>
closer = 'berker.peksag'
components = ['Library (Lib)']
creation = <Date 2017-08-30.14:15:47.010>
creator = 'vxgmichel'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 31307
keywords = []
message_count = 5.0
messages = ['301026', '301149', '301192', '305421', '305422']
nosy_count = 5.0
nosy_names = ['lukasz.langa', 'berker.peksag', 'vxgmichel', 'David Ellis', 'cryvate']
pr_nums = ['3420']
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue31307'
versions = ['Python 3.7']

[vxgmichel]

Calling config_parser.read with 'test' is equivalent to:

    config_parser.read(['test'])

while calling `config_parser.read` with `b'test'` is treated as:

    config_parser.read([116, 101, 115, 116])

which means python will try to open the file descriptors 101, 115 and 116.

I don't know if byte path should be supported, but this is probably not the expected behavior.

The method code: https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/master/Lib/configparser.py#L678-L702

[ambv]

Good catch. Supporting bytes passed as a path is a reasonable request since the builtin open() supports this, too. Go ahead and create a pull request! We only need to modify line 690 to also list bytes.

[DavidCEllis]

This is related to the issue I'd brought up previously here so closing this would also close that issue: http://bugs.python.org/issue29627

I did originally attempt to add support for bytes in PR where I added support for Path-like objects:
#242 but I was asked to take it back out.

[berkerpeksag]

New changeset e314853 by Berker Peksag (Vincent Michel) in branch 'master':
bpo-31307: Make ConfigParser.read() accept bytes objects (GH-3420)
e314853

[berkerpeksag]

Thanks! I went ahead and merged PR 3420 since Łukasz (the configparser maintainer) has accepted the idea.