docs: def _sync_string_to(bin_or_str, string):
      """ Python 3 compliance: ensure two strings are the same type (unicode or binary) """
  
      if isinstance(string, type(bin_or_str)):
          return string
      elif isinstance(string, binary_type):
          return string.decode(DEFAULT_ENCODING)
      else:
          return string.encode(DEFAULT_ENCODING)