[Qgis-developer] QGIS python 'import builtins' sometimes fails

[C Hamilton]

Recently it has come to my attention that plugins that are using 'import
builtins' fails on certain QGIS installs. For example using the following
causes this python error on my osgeo-live VM QGIS (2.14.3)  install, but it
works fine on my Windows 7 QGIS 2.18.6 as well as 2.14.13. One person
reported that it failed for them on Windows 7 using QGIS 2.14.1.

from builtins import str

ImportError: No module named builtins
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/qgis/utils.py", line 306, in
startPlugin
    plugins[packageName] = package.classFactory(iface)
  File "/home/user/.qgis2/python/plugins/latlontools/__init__.py", line 2,
in classFactory
    from .latLonTools import LatLonTools
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/qgis/utils.py", line 572, in
_import
    mod = _builtin_import(name, globals, locals, fromlist, level)
  File "/home/user/.qgis2/python/plugins/latlontools/latLonTools.py", line
9, in
    from zoomToLatLon import ZoomToLatLon
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/qgis/utils.py", line 572, in
_import
    mod = _builtin_import(name, globals, locals, fromlist, level)
  File "/home/user/.qgis2/python/plugins/latlontools/zoomToLatLon.py", line
11, in
    import mgrs
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/qgis/utils.py", line 572, in
_import
    mod = _builtin_import(name, globals, locals, fromlist, level)
  File "/home/user/.qgis2/python/plugins/latlontools/mgrs.py", line 18, in
    from builtins import str
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/qgis/utils.py", line 572, in
_import
    mod = _builtin_import(name, globals, locals, fromlist, level)
ImportError: No module named builtins


Does anyone know why this works with some QGIS installs and not others? Is
there a way to use 'builtins' and avoid it failing on some QGIS installs?

Thanks,

C Hamilton
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