--- a/configmix/compat.py	Wed Mar 09 12:06:46 2016 +0100
+++ b/configmix/compat.py	Wed Mar 09 15:35:46 2016 +0100
@@ -3,10 +3,39 @@
 
 """
 
+from __future__ import division, absolute_import, print_function
+
 import sys
+import locale
 
 
-__all__ = []
+__all__ = ["PY2",
+           "text_to_native_os_str",
+           "native_os_str_to_text"]
 
 
 PY2 = sys.version_info[0] <= 2
+
+
+if PY2:
+
+    _OS_ENCODING = locale.getpreferredencoding()
+
+    def text_to_native_os_str(s, encoding=None):
+        if isinstance(s, unicode):
+            return s.encode(encoding or _OS_ENCODING)
+        else:
+            return s
+
+
+    def native_os_str_to_text(s, encoding=None):
+        return s.decode(encoding or _OS_ENCODING)
+
+else:
+
+    def text_to_native_os_str(s, encoding=None):
+        return s
+
+
+    def native_os_str_to_text(s, encoding=None):
+        return s