quopri uses conditional binascii import, when it is always available

[sobolevn]

Feature or enhancement

This module is quite old, it uses a conditional import of binascii since times when it was possible to not have it when zlib was missing:

cpython/Lib/quopri.py

Lines 12 to 17 in 13cb8ca

	try:
	from binascii import a2b_qp, b2a_qp
	except ImportError:
	a2b_qp = None
	b2a_qp = None

However, right now it is always available under all python implementations (like RustPython and PyPy).

• RustPython: https://github.com/RustPython/RustPython/blob/main/stdlib/src/binascii.rs

• PyPy: https://github.com/pypy/pypy/blob/9abbb4f358a5c308aefb85652a229cc98f899e13/pypy/module/binascii/moduledef.py#L22-L23

So, we can simplify the implementation and remove a lot of duplicated code, example:

cpython/Lib/quopri.py

Lines 51 to 99 in 13cb8ca

	if b2a_qp is not None:
	data = input.read()
	odata = b2a_qp(data, quotetabs=quotetabs, header=header)
	output.write(odata)
	return
	def write(s, output=output, lineEnd=b'\n'):
	# RFC 1521 requires that the line ending in a space or tab must have
	# that trailing character encoded.
	if s and s[-1:] in b' \t':
	output.write(s[:-1] + quote(s[-1:]) + lineEnd)
	elif s == b'.':
	output.write(quote(s) + lineEnd)
	else:
	output.write(s + lineEnd)
	prevline = None
	while line := input.readline():
	outline = []
	# Strip off any readline induced trailing newline
	stripped = b''
	if line[-1:] == b'\n':
	line = line[:-1]
	stripped = b'\n'
	# Calculate the un-length-limited encoded line
	for c in line:
	c = bytes((c,))
	if needsquoting(c, quotetabs, header):
	c = quote(c)
	if header and c == b' ':
	outline.append(b'_')
	else:
	outline.append(c)
	# First, write out the previous line
	if prevline is not None:
	write(prevline)
	# Now see if we need any soft line breaks because of RFC-imposed
	# length limitations. Then do the thisline->prevline dance.
	thisline = EMPTYSTRING.join(outline)
	while len(thisline) > MAXLINESIZE:
	# Don't forget to include the soft line break `=' sign in the
	# length calculation!
	write(thisline[:MAXLINESIZE-1], lineEnd=b'=\n')
	thisline = thisline[MAXLINESIZE-1:]
	# Write out the current line
	prevline = thisline
	# Write out the last line, without a trailing newline
	if prevline is not None:
	write(prevline, lineEnd=stripped)

There are also several helper functions with public names, which are not in __all__ which will be unused after this. We can keep them and deprecate their use.

Since binascii is always available, python implementation is never used anyway.

So, the main pro:

• We can remove some dead code

There are several cons to my proposal:

• There are no real user reported problems
• The module is old and stable
• It does not require a lot of maintaince

I will open a draft PR, so people can see the amount of changes and decide better with that.

Should we do this?

Linked PRs

• gh-133896: Refactor quopri to always use binascii #133897

[serhiy-storchaka]

Not so fast. First we need to solve #62222.

[sobolevn]

@serhiy-storchaka there's no behavior change, unless you explicitly forbid to import binascii somehow with your own hacks / tools.