helper: get rid of decode_string()

It just adds unnecessary type confusion.

In most places where it is used, the types are always str, so it does
nothing. In the few others, the encoding/decoding is better handled
explicitly.

5 files changed, 8 insertions, 42 deletions

diff --git a/alot/commands/__init__.py b/alot/commands/__init__.py
index 1e16b4d4..61ff7f21 100644
--- a/alot/commands/__init__.py
+++ b/alot/commands/__init__.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import os
 import re
 
 from ..settings.const import settings
-from ..helper import split_commandstring, string_decode
+from ..helper import split_commandstring
 
 
 class Command:
@@ -167,7 +167,6 @@ def commandfactory(cmdline, mode='global'):
         args = split_commandstring(cmdline)
     except ValueError as e:
         raise CommandParseError(str(e))
-    args = [string_decode(x, 'utf-8') for x in args]
     logging.debug('ARGS: %s', args)
     cmdname = args[0]
     args = args[1:]
diff --git a/alot/commands/envelope.py b/alot/commands/envelope.py
index 914829eb..1f806581 100644
--- a/alot/commands/envelope.py
+++ b/alot/commands/envelope.py
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ from .. import crypto
 from ..account import SendingMailFailed, StoreMailError
 from ..db.errors import DatabaseError
 from ..errors import GPGProblem
-from ..helper import string_decode
 from ..settings.const import settings
 from ..settings.errors import NoMatchingAccount
 from ..utils import argparse as cargparse
@@ -357,8 +356,8 @@ class EditCommand(Command):
             # get input
             # tempfile will be removed on buffer cleanup
             enc = settings.get('editor_writes_encoding')
-            with open(self.envelope.tmpfile.name) as f:
-                template = string_decode(f.read(), enc)
+            with open(self.envelope.tmpfile.name, 'rb') as f:
+                template = f.read().decode(enc)
 
             # call post-edit translate hook
             translate = settings.get_hook('post_edit_translate')
diff --git a/alot/helper.py b/alot/helper.py
index 5800841d..27652988 100644
--- a/alot/helper.py
+++ b/alot/helper.py
@@ -46,31 +46,6 @@ def split_commandstring(cmdstring):
     assert isinstance(cmdstring, str)
     return shlex.split(cmdstring)
 
-
-def string_decode(string, enc='ascii'):
-    """
-    safely decodes string to unicode bytestring, respecting `enc` as a hint.
-
-    :param string: the string to decode
-    :type string: str or unicode
-    :param enc: a hint what encoding is used in string ('ascii', 'utf-8', ...)
-    :type enc: str
-    :returns: the unicode decoded input string
-    :rtype: unicode
-
-    """
-
-    if enc is None:
-        enc = 'ascii'
-    try:
-        string = str(string, enc, errors='replace')
-    except LookupError:  # malformed enc string
-        string = string.decode('ascii', errors='replace')
-    except TypeError:  # already str
-        pass
-    return string
-
-
 def shorten(string, maxlen):
     """shortens string if longer than maxlen, appending ellipsis"""
     if 1 < maxlen < len(string):
@@ -173,26 +148,23 @@ def call_cmd(cmdlist, stdin=None):
     :rtype: str, str, int
     """
     termenc = urwid.util.detected_encoding
-    if isinstance(stdin, str):
-        stdin = stdin.encode(termenc)
     try:
 
         logging.debug("Calling %s" % cmdlist)
         proc = subprocess.Popen(
             cmdlist,
+            encoding = termenc, errors = 'backslashreplace',
             stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
             stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
             stdin=subprocess.PIPE if stdin is not None else None)
     except OSError as e:
-        out = b''
+        out = ''
         err = e.strerror
         ret = e.errno
     else:
         out, err = proc.communicate(stdin)
         ret = proc.returncode
 
-    out = string_decode(out, termenc)
-    err = string_decode(err, termenc)
     return out, err, ret
 
 
diff --git a/alot/settings/manager.py b/alot/settings/manager.py
index ab5e70fb..e5dcc4b3 100644
--- a/alot/settings/manager.py
+++ b/alot/settings/manager.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ from configobj import ConfigObj, Section
 from ..account import SendmailAccount
 from ..addressbook.abook import AbookAddressBook
 from ..addressbook.external import ExternalAddressbook
-from ..helper import string_decode, get_xdg_env
+from ..helper import get_xdg_env
 from ..utils import configobj as checks
 
 from .errors import ConfigError, NoMatchingAccount
@@ -422,7 +422,6 @@ class SettingsManager:
                                     fallback_focus)
 
                 translated = cfg['tags'][sec]['translated']
-                translated = string_decode(translated, 'UTF-8')
                 if translated is None:
                     translated = tag
                 translation = cfg['tags'][sec]['translation']
@@ -585,11 +584,11 @@ class SettingsManager:
 
         fixed_format = self.get('timestamp_format')
         if fixed_format:
-            rep = string_decode(d.strftime(fixed_format), 'UTF-8')
+            rep = d.strftime(fixed_format)
         else:
             format_hook = self.get_hook('timestamp_format')
             if format_hook:
-                rep = string_decode(format_hook(d), 'UTF-8')
+                rep = format_hook(d)
             else:
                 rep = _pretty_datetime(d)
         return rep
diff --git a/alot/widgets/globals.py b/alot/widgets/globals.py
index 6f7531d2..387797af 100644
--- a/alot/widgets/globals.py
+++ b/alot/widgets/globals.py
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ import re
 import operator
 import urwid
 
-from ..helper import string_decode
 from ..settings.const import settings
 from ..db.attachment import Attachment
 from ..errors import CompletionError
@@ -127,8 +126,6 @@ class CompleteEdit(urwid.Edit):
         self.historypos = None
         self.focus_in_clist = 0
 
-        if not isinstance(edit_text, str):
-            edit_text = string_decode(edit_text)
         self.start_completion_pos = len(edit_text)
         self.completions = None
         urwid.Edit.__init__(self, edit_text=edit_text, **kwargs)