[Python-Dev] Bytes path support

[Serhiy Storchaka]

Builting open(), io classes, os and os.path functions and some other 
functions in the stdlib support bytes paths as well as str paths. But 
many functions doesn't. There are requests about adding this support 
([1], [2]) in some modules. It is easy (just call os.fsdecode() on 
argument) but I'm not sure it is worth to do. Pathlib doesn't support 
bytes path and it looks intentional. What is general policy about 
support of bytes path in the stdlib?

[1] http://bugs.python.org/issue19997
[2] http://bugs.python.org/issue20797