issue #426: to_text filter.

tests/ansible/ansible.cfg

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ callback_plugins = lib/callback
 stdout_callback = nice_stdout
 vars_plugins = lib/vars
 library = lib/modules
+filter_plugins = lib/filters
 module_utils = lib/module_utils
 retry_files_enabled = False
 display_args_to_stdout = True

tests/ansible/lib/filters/mitogen_tests.py

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+
+from ansible.module_utils._text import to_text
+
+
+try:
+    Unicode = unicode
+except:
+    Unicode = str
+
+
+def to_text(s):
+    """
+    Ensure the str or unicode `s` is unicode, and strip away any subclass. Also
+    works on lists.
+    """
+    if isinstance(s, list):
+        return [to_text(ss) for ss in s]
+    if not isinstance(s, Unicode):
+        s = to_text(s)
+    return Unicode(s)
+
+
+class FilterModule(object):
+    def filters(self):
+        return {
+            'to_text': to_text,
+        }