python_2to3_subprocess.py

"""
Safe way to call subprocess.Popen.communicate() and str from it.
"""

def shell(exe, *args, **kwargs):
    if sys.version_info >= (3, 6) and 'encoding' not in kwargs:  # for Python >=3.6
        kwargs['encoding'] = 'utf8'
    args = [exe] + list(args)
    proc = subprocess.Popen(args, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
    out, _ = proc.communicate()
    if proc.returncode != 0:
        raise RuntimeError('{} returned {}'.format(exe, proc.returncode))
    if not isinstance(out, str):  # for Python >3.0, <3.6
        out = out.decode('utf-8')
    return out