[utils] Small fixes to utils, make tests pass in Py2 #2848

Job	Run time
Linter	15s
Select tests from inputs	1s
Run tests (ubuntu-20.04, 2.7, cpython, core, sh)	1m 24s
Run tests (ubuntu-20.04, 3.2, cpython, core, sh)	1m 8s
Run tests (ubuntu-20.04, 3.5, cpython, core, sh)	1m 24s
Run tests (ubuntu-20.04, 3.9, cpython, core, sh)	1m 24s
Run tests (ubuntu-20.04, 3.11, cpython, core, sh)	57s
Run tests (ubuntu-20.04, pypy-2.7, cpython, core, sh)	1m 25s
Run tests (ubuntu-20.04, pypy-3.6, cpython, core, sh)	1m 14s
Run tests (ubuntu-20.04, pypy-3.7, cpython, core, sh)	1m 23s
Run tests (windows-2019, 3.4, cpython, core, bat)	1m 8s
Run tests (windows-2019, 3.4, cpython, nodownload, bat)	58s
Run tests (ubuntu-20.04, 2.7, jython, core, sh)	1m 25s
Run tests (ubuntu-20.04, 2.7, jython, nodownload, sh)	34s
	14m 40s

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