> Functions like os.execv() or os.readlink() are not deprecated because 
> the underlying C function really uses a bytes API (execv and readlink).

Probably os.execv() should be implemented on Windows with _wexecv() instead of _execv().  Likewise for other functions which have "wide" versions.  Or maybe it wouldn't be worth the effort, since it would mean writing separate Windows implementations.

I don't know what you mean about os.readlink() though: the Windows implementation uses CreateFileW() and DeviceIoControl().