Replace deprecated ansible.module_utils._text imports (#1053) (#1070)

This is a backport of PR #1053 as merged into main (452fb3d).
SUMMARY
Importing from ansible.module_utils._text is deprecated in ansible-core 2.20 and removed in 2.24. All imports of to_bytes, to_native, and to_text now use ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters.
Before:
from ansible.module_utils._text import to_bytes, to_native, to_text

After:
from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_bytes, to_native, to_text

ISSUE TYPE

Bugfix Pull Request

COMPONENT NAME
plugins/module_utils/common.py
plugins/action/k8s_info.py
plugins/connection/kubectl.py
plugins/module_utils/{copy.py, k8s/runner.py}
plugins/modules/{k8s_cp.py, k8s_drain.py, k8s_exec.py, k8s_json_patch.py, k8s_scale.py, k8s_taint.py}
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
It's not an actual Bugfix, more a lifecycle management to ensure compatibility with future Ansible versions.
Tested with ansible-core 2.20 to ensure no deprecation warnings are raised and with ansible-core 2.16 to ensure backward compatibility.
Patrially coauthored-by: GitHub Copilot with Claude Code 4.5 model.
Addresses issue #1052.

Reviewed-by: Bianca Henderson <beeankha@gmail.com>

changelogs/fragments/20251228-1053-remove-deprecated-import.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+minor_changes:
+- Remove deprecated import from ``ansible.module_utils._text`` (https://github.com/ansible-collections/kubernetes.core/pull/1053).

plugins/action/k8s_info.py

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ from ansible.errors import (
     AnsibleError,
     AnsibleFileNotFound,
 )
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_bytes, to_native, to_text
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_bytes, to_native, to_text
 from ansible.module_utils.parsing.convert_bool import boolean
 from ansible.plugins.action import ActionBase
 

plugins/connection/kubectl.py

@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ import subprocess
 import tempfile
 
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleError, AnsibleFileNotFound
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_bytes
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_bytes
 from ansible.module_utils.parsing.convert_bool import boolean
 from ansible.module_utils.six.moves import shlex_quote
 from ansible.parsing.yaml.loader import AnsibleLoader

plugins/module_utils/common.py

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ import base64
 import os
 from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile
 
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_bytes, to_native, to_text
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_bytes, to_native, to_text
 from ansible.module_utils.urls import Request
 
 try:

plugins/module_utils/copy.py

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ from abc import ABCMeta, abstractmethod
 from select import select
 from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile, TemporaryFile
 
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_native
 
 # from ansible_collections.kubernetes.core.plugins.module_utils.ansiblemodule import AnsibleModule
 from ansible_collections.kubernetes.core.plugins.module_utils.k8s.exceptions import (

plugins/module_utils/k8s/runner.py

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 from typing import Dict
 
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_native
 from ansible_collections.kubernetes.core.plugins.module_utils.k8s.client import (
     get_api_client,
 )

plugins/modules/k8s_cp.py

@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ result:
 
 import copy
 
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_native
 from ansible_collections.kubernetes.core.plugins.module_utils.ansiblemodule import (
     AnsibleModule,
 )

plugins/modules/k8s_drain.py

@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ import time
 import traceback
 from datetime import datetime
 
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_native
 from ansible_collections.kubernetes.core.plugins.module_utils.ansiblemodule import (
     AnsibleModule,
 )

plugins/modules/k8s_exec.py

@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ except ImportError:
     # ImportError are managed by the common module already.
     pass
 
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_native
 from ansible_collections.kubernetes.core.plugins.module_utils.ansiblemodule import (
     AnsibleModule,
 )

plugins/modules/k8s_json_patch.py

@@ -135,8 +135,8 @@ error:
 import copy
 import traceback
 
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import missing_required_lib
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_native
 from ansible_collections.kubernetes.core.plugins.module_utils.ansiblemodule import (
     AnsibleModule,
 )

plugins/modules/k8s_scale.py

@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ except ImportError:
     # Handled in module setup
     pass
 
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_native
 from ansible_collections.kubernetes.core.plugins.module_utils.ansiblemodule import (
     AnsibleModule,
 )

plugins/modules/k8s_taint.py

@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ result:
 
 import copy
 
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_native
 from ansible_collections.kubernetes.core.plugins.module_utils.ansiblemodule import (
     AnsibleModule,
 )

tests/unit/conftest.py

@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ from io import BytesIO
 
 import ansible.module_utils.basic
 import pytest
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_bytes
 from ansible.module_utils.common._collections_compat import MutableMapping
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_bytes
 
 
 @pytest.fixture