ImportError: cannot import name 'soft_unicode' from 'markupsafe'

Python3

Error

ImportError: cannot import name 'soft_unicode' from 'markupsafe' (/home/{project}/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/markupsafe/__init__.py)

Update all PIP packages

pip3 list --outdated --format=freeze | grep -v '^\-e' | cut -d = -f 1 | xargs -n1 pip3 install -U

However, this failed due to 

AttributeError: module 'lib' has no attribute 'X509_V_FLAG_CB_ISSUER_CHECK'

To resolve the X509_V_FLAG_CB_ISSUER_CHECK error, run

sudo pip3 install pyOpenSSL --upgrade
sudo pip3 install cryptography --upgrade

Back on track

The "ImportError: cannot import name 'soft_unicode' from 'markupsafe'" occurs as a result of soft_unicode method has been deprecated in markupsafe version 2.1.0.  Now to check the current version that's in use of key packages

Package                 Version
----------------------- --------------------
Jinja2                  2.10.1
MarkupSafe              2.1.3
pip                     20.0.2

Checking jinja2

The minimum versions of this package are expected by Jinja2:

# for pinned (obsolete) Jinja2: `MarkupSafe` has been automatically downgraded  by `pip` to `2.0.1`
MarkupSafe==2.0.1
 - Jinja2==2.11.3 [requires: MarkupSafe>=0.23]

# whereas unpinned:

# for unpinned (latest) Jinja2: using latest version of `MarkupSafe`
MarkupSafe==2.1.1
 - Jinja2==3.1.2 [requires: MarkupSafe>=2.0]

Downgrading MarkupSafe

Downgrading markupsafe module to 2.0.1 version

pip install markupsafe==2.0.1
pip3 install markupsafe==2.0.1

Response

Collecting markupsafe==2.0.1
  Downloading MarkupSafe-2.0.1-cp38-cp38-manylinux2010_x86_64.whl (30 kB)
Installing collected packages: markupsafe
  Attempting uninstall: markupsafe
    Found existing installation: MarkupSafe 2.1.3
    Uninstalling MarkupSafe-2.1.3:
      Successfully uninstalled MarkupSafe-2.1.3
Successfully installed markupsafe-2.0.1

Confirming that the current version of markupsafe has been downgraded

Package                 Version
----------------------- --------------------
Jinja2                  2.10.1
MarkupSafe              2.0.1
pip                     20.0.2