Xavier reports that str|None is supported only by python ≥ 3.10, while
we still should care to support at least 3.9 - e.g. SlapOS uses it by
default as well as Debian 11.

Let's not delve deep into typing game. If we cannot express things
easily we can omit the type completely or express it in comments.

/reported-by @xavier_thompson at !5 (comment 182930)