py3_path.py

import sys
import os

PY2 = sys.version_info[0] == 2


def py3_path(path):
    """Convert a bytestring path to Unicode on Python 3 only. On Python
    2, return the bytestring path unchanged.

    This helps deal with APIs on Python 3 that *only* accept Unicode
    (i.e., `str` objects). I philosophically disagree with this
    decision, because paths are sadly bytes on Unix, but that's the way
    it is. So this function helps us "smuggle" the true bytes data
    through APIs that took Python 3's Unicode mandate too seriously.
    """
    assert isinstance(path, bytes)
    if PY2:
        return path
    return os.fsdecode(path)


if __name__ == '__main__':
    os.environ['something'] = py3_path(u'caf\xe9'.encode('utf8'))
    print(os.environ['something'])