1 files changed, 14 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/cloudinit/net/cmdline.py b/cloudinit/net/cmdline.py
index f5712533..b85d4b0a 100644
--- a/cloudinit/net/cmdline.py
+++ b/cloudinit/net/cmdline.py
@@ -20,12 +20,25 @@ import base64
 import glob
 import gzip
 import io
+import shlex
+import sys
+
+import six
 
 from cloudinit.net import get_devicelist
 from cloudinit.net import sys_netdev_info
 
 from cloudinit import util
 
+PY26 = sys.version_info[0:2] == (2, 6)
+
+
+def _shlex_split(blob):
+    if PY26 and isinstance(blob, six.text_type):
+        # Older versions don't support unicode input
+        blob = blob.encode("utf8")
+    return shlex.split(blob)
+
 
 def _load_shell_content(content, add_empty=False, empty_val=None):
     """Given shell like syntax (key=value\nkey2=value2\n) in content
@@ -33,7 +46,7 @@ def _load_shell_content(content, add_empty=False, empty_val=None):
        then add entries in to the returned dictionary for 'VAR='
        variables.  Set their value to empty_val."""
     data = {}
-    for line in util.shlex_split(content):
+    for line in _shlex_split(content):
         try:
             key, value = line.split("=", 1)
         except ValueError: