Failed to send request: 'str' object has no attribute 'decode' on Ubuntu 16.04

[Erltoichi]

The code attached below generates an error on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS with python3 default package installed (python3 --version returns 3.5.2).

The error message is:
«Failed to send request: 'str' object has no attribute 'decode'»

The code works fine on Ubuntu 17.04 and Fedora 25 (both python3 --version returning 3.5.3). The code also runs on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS with self-compiled from source python 3.6.1.
Also, the code has been running ok for over a year on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS - it only fails since mid June 2017.
Not sure where the issue is, probably in Ubuntu package for python or in python version 3.5.2.

from datetime import datetime,date,time,timezone
import tweepy as twitter

def sendToTwitter():
        consumer_key='...'
        consumer_secret='...'
        access_token_key='...'
        access_token_secret='..'
        #connect to the twitter api
        message = "tweet test"
        print("trying to send the tweet...")
        try:
                auth = twitter.OAuthHandler(consumer_key, consumer_secret)
                auth.set_access_token(access_token_key, access_token_secret)
                api = twitter.API(auth)
                status = api.update_status(status=message)
                print("tweet sent")
        except Exception as e:
                        print("error while tweeting. reason : " + str(e))
        return
sendToTwitter()

[Serhiy Storchaka (storchaka)]

It would be helpful if you provide a traceback. Just remove try/except or insert raise before print.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for python3-defaults (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]