1 files changed, 25 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/boto/utils.py b/boto/utils.py
index 83b429b9..173594e2 100644
--- a/boto/utils.py
+++ b/boto/utils.py
@@ -1084,3 +1084,28 @@ def parse_host(hostname):
     else:
         return hostname.split(':', 1)[0]
 
+
+def get_utf8able_str(s, errors='strict'):
+    """Returns a UTF8-encodable string in PY3, UTF8 bytes in PY2.
+
+    This method is similar to six's `ensure_str()`, except it also
+    makes sure that any bytes passed in can be decoded using the
+    utf-8 codec (and raises a UnicodeDecodeError if not).
+    """
+    if six.PY2:
+        # We want to return utf-8 encoded bytes.
+        if isinstance(s, six.text_type):
+            return s.encode('utf-8', errors)
+        if isinstance(s, six.binary_type):
+            # Verify the bytes can be represented in utf-8
+            s.decode('utf-8')
+            return s
+    else:
+        # We want to return a unicode/str object.
+        if isinstance(s, six.text_type):
+            return s
+        if isinstance(s, six.binary_type):
+            s = s.decode('utf-8')
+            return s
+    raise TypeError('not expecting type "%s"' % type(s))
+