Merge code bases for Python 2 and 3

[yschroeder]

I believe it is rather cumbersome to maintain two code bases for Python 2 and Python 3. From glancing over the code with meld I think most of the differences are byte strings are iterating over dictionaries.

Is there another good reason to maintain two code bases? Or would it be worth it to merge them?

Here are some hints to do so: http://python-future.org/compatible_idioms.html

[pgiri]

Most of the code between 'py2' and 'py3' is common. I don't know how current differences can be merged. Can you give more specifics on how to merge, or preferably post a patch?