plistlib_mod

A slightly enhanced/modified version of the plistlib module from the Python 3.11 standard library, backported to Python 3.4 and later.

Features

At the moment, plistlib_mod matches the plistlib standard library module from Python 3.11.5, but is compatible with Python 3.4 and later. In particular, it includes the following features and fixes, which are otherwise not available on older Python versions:

• Fix typo in error message in plistlib (GH-97540) (from 3.11+, 3.10.8)
• bpo-42249: Fix writing binary Plist files larger than 4 GiB. (GH-23121) (from 3.10+, 3.9.1, 3.8.7)
• bpo-42103: Improve validation of Plist files. (GH-22882) (from 3.10+, 3.9.1, 3.8.7, 3.7.10, 3.6.13)
• bpo-41491: plistlib: accept hexadecimal integer values in xml plist files (GH-22764) (from 3.10+, 3.9.1, 3.8.7)
• bpo-42051: Reject XML entity declarations in plist files (#22760) (from 3.10+, 3.9.1, 3.8.7, 3.7.10, 3.6.13)
• bpo-26707: Enable plistlib to read UID keys. (GH-12153) (from 3.8+)
• bpo-32072: Fix issues with binary plists. (#4455) (from 3.7+, 3.6.4, 3.5.5, 3.4.8)
• bpo-31897: Convert unexpected errors when read bogus binary plists into InvalidFileException. (#4171) (from 3.7+, 3.6.4)
• bpo-28321: Fixed writing non-BMP characters with binary format in plistlib. (from 3.5.3+)
• bpo-27109: Add InvalidFileException to __all__, by Jacek Kołodziej (from 3.6+)
• bpo-26711: Fixed the comparison of plistlib.Data with other types. (from 3.5.2+)
• bpo-26709: Fixed Y2038 problem in loading binary PLists. (from 3.5.2+)
• bpo-21888: plistlib's load() and loads() now work if the fmt parameter is specified. (from 3.4.2+)
• bpo-21538: The plistlib module now supports loading of binary plist files when reference or offset size is not a power of two. (from 3.4.2+)

The following deprecated APIs have been removed, like in newer Python versions:

• bpo-36409: Remove old plistlib API deprecated in 3.4 (GH-15615) (removed in 3.9)
• bpo-29196: Removed old-deprecated classes Plist, Dict and _InternalDict (#488) (removed in 3.7)

Installation

plistlib_mod is not released on PyPI yet. Once it is released, you will be able to use the package plistlib_mod as a dependency.

Usage

plistlib_mod is nearly identical to the standard plistlib module. The recommended way to use it is:

import plistlib_mod as plistlib

If appropriate, you can also conditionally fall back to the standard plistlib module in case plistlib_mod isn't available. If you do this, make sure that your code can handle plistlib_mod's enhancements being unavailable!

try:
    import plistlib_mod as plistlib
except ModuleNotFoundError:
    import plistlib

License

Like Python itself, plistlib_mod is licensed under the Python Software Foundation License Version 2. See the LICENSE file for details.

Changelog

Version 0.1.0 (next version)

• Initial release.
• Based on plistlib from Python 3.11.5, with small compatibility changes.