address arg can be bytes for ip_* functions in ipaddress module

[sobolevn]

BPO	46646
Nosy	@merwok, @sobolevn
PRs	bpo-46646: mention that bytes are accepted in ipaddress docs #31139

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = None
created_at = <Date 2022-02-05.07:05:52.750>
labels = ['3.11', 'type-bug', '3.9', '3.10', 'docs']
title = '`address` arg can be `bytes` for `ip_*` functions in `ipaddress` module'
updated_at = <Date 2022-02-12.12:17:20.741>
user = 'https://github.com/sobolevn'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2022-02-12.12:17:20.741>
actor = 'eric.araujo'
assignee = 'docs@python'
closed = False
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = ['Documentation']
creation = <Date 2022-02-05.07:05:52.750>
creator = 'sobolevn'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 46646
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 2.0
messages = ['412562', '413125']
nosy_count = 4.0
nosy_names = ['eric.araujo', 'pmoody', 'docs@python', 'sobolevn']
pr_nums = ['31139']
priority = 'normal'
resolution = None
stage = 'patch review'
status = 'open'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue46646'
versions = ['Python 3.9', 'Python 3.10', 'Python 3.11']

[sobolevn]

Right now the docs say:

ipaddress.ip_interface(address)
Return an IPv4Interface or IPv6Interface object depending on the IP address passed as argument. **address is a string or integer** representing the IP address. Either IPv4 or IPv6 addresses may be supplied; integers less than 2**32 will be considered to be IPv4 by default. A ValueError is raised if address does not represent a valid IPv4 or IPv6 address.

Note the address is a string or integer part.

But, this is not true. Counter example:

>>> import ipaddress
>>> ipaddress.ip_interface(b'0000')
IPv4Interface('48.48.48.48/32')
>>> ipaddress.ip_interface(b'1111')
IPv4Interface('49.49.49.49/32')

So, packed version that accepts bytes, should be also mentioned.

For ip_address types are not mentioned:

ipaddress.ip_address(address)
Return an IPv4Address or IPv6Address object depending on the IP address passed as argument. Either IPv4 or IPv6 addresses may be supplied; integers less than 2**32 will be considered to be IPv4 by default. A ValueError is raised if address does not represent a valid IPv4 or IPv6 address.

I will send a PR with proposed changes.

[merwok]

Can you dig more to find if the problem is in the code or in the doc?
The PEP to add ipaddress should specify this.

[AlexWaygood]

Can you dig more to find if the problem is in the code or in the doc? The PEP to add ipaddress should specify this.

The PEP does not specify this, as far as I can tell: https://peps.python.org/pep-3144/. Nor do the docs attached to the reference implementation that the PEP links to.

The linked PR proposes documenting that bytes are supported for ipaddress.ip_address, ipaddress.ip_network and ipaddress.ip_interface. Of these three functions, I can only find a test for bytes for ipaddress.ip_interface:

cpython/Lib/test/test_ipaddress.py

Line 1298 in f9433ff

ipaddress.ip_interface(b'\x01\x02\x03\x04')._ip)

. The other functions probably shouldn't be documented as supporting bytes if it's completely untested.